Todd Phillips Shares New Joker: Folie à Deux Images
Todd Phillips left a Christmas present for movie fans on his Instagram account yesterday. With the caption “Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a beautiful new year,” the filmmaker posted a pair of pictures from the upcoming sequel to his smash 2019 hit Joker, titled Joker: Folie à Deux. The first image shows Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck visible through a slot in what we can assume is the door to his cell in Arkham Asylum. In the second picture, he is in a courthouse in full Joker makeup, looking at Lady Gaga’s Harlene Quinzel, who stares back at the psychotic clown. Joker: Folie à Deux is set to arrive in theaters on October 4, 2024. You can see the new images below:
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Once again, Phillips wisely keeps his film in people’s minds while giving little away. Nothing is revealed in these pictures that we didn’t already know. The Joker is in Arkham, where Phillips has said the bulk of the movie will take place, and considering where we left the villain at the end of the last film, it makes sense. And Harlene looking at the Joker as he awaits some sort of trial or hearing gels, not just with Folie à Deux but with the character in general; she begins as the Joker’s psychiatrist in Arkham, and that’s all we know from the picture as well. The look she’s giving the Joker seems to be one of admiration, possibly even infatuation, but I have to wonder if that’s all because of the picture or if part of it is informed by what I already know of Harlene Quinzel. Interestingly, we don’t see how the Joker is looking at her; he’s turned away from the camera, and while he appears to be smiling, he’s also wearing clown makeup. Is he genuinely smiling at her, or is he manipulating her with feigned affection? Or is something else entirely going on? That’s part of what makes Phillips’ image releases so effective; they could be interpreted in several different ways, or they could just be pictures he thought were neat, and we’re reading into them because we know how wonderfully complex and human the first film was. Joker: Folie à Deux is still a ways off, but Phillips is building anticipation expertly.
