- Joaquin Phoenix brings Joker sequel to Venice Film Festival
- New film also stars Lady Gaga, adding musical oomph
- Phoenix once again sheds many pounds for demanding role
- Director nervous over the response given the huge expectations
VENICE — Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar as Best Actor for his role in the 2019 hit “The Joker”, revealed on Wednesday that he had a dream about his old character, spurring director Todd Phillips to make a sequel.
“Joker: Folie a Deux”, which is getting its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, picks up where the original movie ended, with the comic-book baddie Joker locked up in a high security prison awaiting trial for multiple murder.
In jail he is captivated by an asylum patient, Harleen Quinzel, played by Lady Gaga, who reciprocates his passion — their intense love story played out in hallucinatory song-and-dance routines.
“I had this dream that I was performing as Joker doing songs and I just called Todd because I thought there might be something there,” the U.S. actor told a press conference.
In turn a courtroom drama, gritty prison tale and tender romance, the film is peppered with Phoenix and Gaga singing unique renditions of classics, such as Judy Garland’s “Get Happy” and the showbiz anthem “That’s Entertainment”, giving the film a very different feeling to its predecessor.
“The way that music is used is to really give the characters a way to express what they need to say because the scene and just the dialogue is not enough,” said Lady Gaga, an American singer/songwriter, who has also become a successful actor.
Stringent diet
Phoenix made headlines with the first Joker when he revealed that he had lost 52 pounds (23.6 kg) preparing for the role. He underwent a similar transformation this time around, suggesting, but then denying, that he had shed 47 pounds for the sequel.
He refused to go into details about his diet, and although he said the severe weight loss was safe, he acknowledged he did not want to go through it a third time.
“I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again,” he said, adding that having to do so many dance routines and rehearsals while on a stringent eating regime had taken its toll.
“We fed him blueberries when he was really hungry,” Lady Gaga said. She said that she had also lost a lot of weight for the role, whilst also shaking up her singing style.
“For me, it was a lot about kind of unlearning technique and forgetting how to breathe and allowing the song to completely come out of the character,” she said.
The original “Joker” also opened at Venice, winning rave reviews and the top prize at the competition, before earning more than $1 billion at the box office worldwide.
The director said he was more nervous about presenting the sequel – one of the most eagerly awaited titles in Venice.
“I think it’s a lot easier to come in to something as the insurgent, as opposed to coming in as the incumbent. There’s a lot more expectations on a second film,” Phillips said.
“What I really loved about the first movie, the making of it, was we flew under the radar,” he said.
The first film had Phoenix metamorphosing from the vulnerable, beaten-down Arthur Fleck into a confident, cackling villain, the Joker, sowing chaos in Gotham City.
He undergoes a different journey in the sequel, as his adoration of Quinzel awakens new emotions.
“What drives Arthur? I mean simply love. I think the quest for love and that kind of safety that I think he yearns for,” Phoenix said.
“Joker: Folie a Deux” is one of 21 movies competing at the Venice Film Festival for the prestigious Golden Lion prize, which will be awarded on Sept. 7.
—Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Tomasz Janowski
