The Joker is back as production begins for Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the Oscar-winning 2019 film.
Director Todd Phillips shared a photo to his Instagram on Saturday of Joaquin Phoenix in character as Arthur Fleck with the caption: “Day 1. Our boy. #joker.”
At this point, the sequel is expected to star Phoenix, Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond, Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener.
The film comes after Phillips’ Joker, which was a box-office hit, grossed $1 billion. The Warner Bros. sensation based on the DC villain also won two Oscars, including Phoenix taking home best performance by an actor in a leading role.
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While the plot for the sequel is unknown, Phillips wrote the script with Joker co-writer Scott Silver. The first film followed an aspiring stand-up comedian who worked as a clown and suffered from mental health issues. As times got tough, he began to spiral, leading him to take on the iconic Joker persona. A hint for the sequel could also be in the name, Folie à Deux, which references a medical term for an identical or similar mental disorder impacting two or more people, usually the members of a close family.
In 2019, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the filmmaker would return to write a Joker sequel and later reported that Phillips may be an advisor of some sort on future DC projects for Warner Bros.
Joker: Folie à Deux is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 4, 2024.
