Joaquin Phoenix returns once again in his Oscar-winning dual role (2019) as Arthur Fleck/Joker, with the singer Lady Gagawho debuts as Harley Quinn. They both joined together with him director Todd Phillips to continue the story of the psychopath without any moral compass.
Joker: Madness for Two finds an institutionalized Arthur Fleck in Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as the Joker. As he struggles with his dual identity, he not only stumbles upon a “true love,” but also finds that music has always been within him.
The film also includes actors in its cast Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener y Zazie Beetz.
The reason for returning
“In 2018, when we were doing Joker “For the first time, we never imagined it would touch audiences around the world so much. Joaquin and I had talked about a sequel, but never seriously; that changed when we saw the public reaction to Arthur’s story,” Phillips confesses about what led them to continue with the project.
But if they were going to make a sequel, they knew they had to take a risk. “We wanted to do something as crazy and brave as the character himself. So Scott Silver and I wrote a script that delved deeper into the idea of identity. Who is Arthur Fleck and where does the music inside him come from?” he details.
For Phillips, films tend to be a mirror of society or the place it is in. He used the first film to create something new in the second, which is why they used Arthur’s fantasies as a tool to develop everything that can be seen now.
Music as an element
“I always wanted the music to feel like something that Arthur knew, something that maybe his mother played in the apartment when he was little. So we always wanted to embrace that kind of old-school musical vibe. There was a nostalgia to the music that he listened to, the music that was in his head, that we were discovering more and more as we were filming,” says the director.
The way Arthur and Joker move through the world seemed to be musical and strangely graceful, as there was always a kind of rhythm to them that motivated their every move.
Thus, the melodies ended up becoming the starting point of the story.
A new Lady Gaga
The actress has been instrumental in the construction of the film since the very beginning. Her role as Harley Quinn or Lee Quinzel makes Arthur move between reality and fantasy.
“She really understood what we were going for and I think she slipped into this world quite easily. I was incredibly impressed with her level of focus, her attention to detail, but also her flexibility. This was her first time in this kind of environment and she was able to make adjustments, throw everything out the window and figure out her character in real time,” he says. (E)
