It was an eventful Valentine's Day for Joker: Folie à Deux Director Todd Phillips (or for Joker and DC fans), to say the least. It's high time we all put on our happy faces as we get our first official look at Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in the DC sequel!
Posting on Instagram, Phillips gave us the first image of Gaga as Harley Quinn, alongside Phoenix's Joker. The Oscar-winning artist's casting was announced last August. The pop star replaces Margot Robbie, who had previously played the deranged psychiatrist in Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey. Quinn was first introduced to audiences in Batman: The Animated Series back in the '90s.
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Folie à Deux ???? pic.twitter.com/gEwSgsvpbP
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 15, 2023
The first Joker was such a success it became the highest-grossing R-rated film in history. Director and producer Todd Phillips, who was best known for comedies like Old School and the Hangover trilogy in the past, became a kino stud with the smash hit. Joker would go on to earn the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and bag 11 Academy Award nominations, including a Best Actor nod for Phoenix and Best Original Score for Hildur Guðnadóttir.
lady gaga and her lead acting roles… an ACTRESS pic.twitter.com/ChA6F84pJv
— allure (@allurequinn) February 15, 2023
DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran have noticeably gave Phillips the creative freedom to piece together the Joker series (Folie à Deux will reportedly be a musical) on his own. The film is not part of the narrative continuity we've seen in the DC Cinematic Universe.
As for Gaga, the singer's transition to the big screen has gone pretty smoothly. She's a bona fide movie star now. The singer has had quite the filmography with films like A Star Is Born back in 2018 and House of Gucci in 2021 (for the former, she took home the Oscar for Best Original Score for the song "Shallow"). Of course, we can't forget Gaga's performance as The Countess in American Horror Story: Hotel, as well, for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2016.
Warner Bros.' Joker: Folie à Deux will hit theaters on October 9, 2024.
* This story originally appeared on Esquiremag.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Preview.ph editors.
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