Let’s go boys. It’s showtime. Wakey wakey!
Warner Bros. has released the much-anticipated official teaser trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux, giving us our first look at Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in Arkham Asylum and Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga) assigned to treat him treating him. Director Todd Phillips‘ (War Dogs, Due Date) musical sequel to 2019’s Joker will feature 15 songs, per Variety, with most being cover versions. Confirmed songs include “That’s Entertainment” from 1953’s The Band Wagon and “What the World Needs Now Is Love” by Jackie DeShannon, which is heard in the trailer.
The title references a psychiatric syndrome where two people, often isolated from others, share the same delusional beliefs and based on a line in the trailer that goes, “We use music to make us whole. To balance the fractures within ourselves,” it would suggest that this new musical approach will explore the healing and restorative power of music .
The ensemble cast features Zazie Beetz (Bullet Train, “Full Circle”), Catherine Keener (Sicario: Day of the Soldado, “Brand New Cherry Flavor”), Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Tragedy of Macbeth), Ken Leung (Missing, Old), Jacob Lofland (Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Mud), and Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie, “The Reckoning”).
The original Joker film was the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2019 and the highest-grossing R-rated film ever. It went on to receive eleven Academy Award nominations and took home both Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Original Score.