Joker: Folie à Deux continues diversifying the DC Elseworlds banner by offering a musical spin on Joaquin Phoenix’s troubled clown-faced antihero.

With Joker filmmaker Todd Phillips returning to the director’s chair, the Joker sequel is one of many R-rated comic book releases of 2024. Introducing Lady Gaga as Joker’s accomplice and love interest Harley Quinn, the upcoming DC release has been garnering attention for its unconventional thematic choices. A major case in point is Phillips’ decision to follow his 2019 psychological human drama with a musical instead. If this unorthodox decision sticks the landing, Phoenix’s character would be heavily reinvented.

The latest development around Joker: Folie à Deux confirms that the movie will play out as a jukebox musical with the cast members adding their touch to at least 15 well-known songs, with space for a few original compositions as well. Hildur Guðnadóttir, the Oscar-winning composer from the previous film, will also be returning with her haunting score to accompany every track. While Lady Gaga has already proved her musical credentials with her own discography and covers of tracks like “Gimme Shelter” (The Rolling Stones) and “What’s Up” (4 Non Blondes), it’s leading man Phoenix who can be a revelation.

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Joaquin Phoenix’s Role In Walk The Line Shows He’s Perfectly Setup For Joker 2

The Oscar-Winner Shocked Critics And Audiences With His Johnny Cash Impersonation

Joaquin Phoenix has occasionally turned to singing in his career, as is evident from his tender vocals on the ukulele-driven ballad “Moon Song” from Her. But a more full-fledged display of his singing talents is his Oscar-nominated portrayal of country legend Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. Playing the guitar and echoing the Man in Black’s signature bass-baritone, the 2005 biopic found Phoenix accurately recreating classics like “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Ring of Fire” and the film’s title track. His commitment to the performance is also evident from the fact that he learned how to play the six-stringer only while filming.

The actor’s convincing musical performance set the blueprint for future film portrayals in music biopics like Rocketman, and Elvis. As the Joker in a jukebox musical, Phoenix has the chance to flaunt his vocal prowess yet again, albeit with much more artistic license. No longer bound by Johnny Cash’s likeness, Phoenix can modulate his voice with diverse results. Much like what he achieved as Johnny Cash, Phoenix can try his hand at capturing other artists’ vocal eccentricities too. And with a multiple-Grammy winner like Lady Gaga joining the Joker: Folie à Deux cast, Phoenix will be pushed to perform powerfully.

Walk The Line was a box-office success, grossing over $187 million against a $28 million budget.

How Joker Folie A Deux Will Be A Unique Jukebox Musical

Moulin Rouge And Mamma Mia Have New Competition

The concept of a jukebox musical isn’t a new one, with significant cases being Baz Luhrmann’s Parisian fable Moulin Rouge, the ABBA-centric Mamma Mia movies, and the Beatles-inspired Across the Universe. Such movies have an immediate audience pull as compared to other cinematic musicals, thanks to songs that the viewers have already heard and sung along to previously. As seen in such previous jukebox offerings, some song-and-dance numbers can also present a vibrant medley of multiple songs across different genres. But it’s not every day that genre fans get a jukebox musical helmed by the Joker and Harley Quinn.

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With Phoenix already having danced on the first movie’s now-iconic staircase, the actor can have a few clownish tricks up his sleeve to make his musical performance all the more vibrant. Vaudeville theatrics in clown makeup can perfectly go in tandem with Arthur Fleck’s musical descent into chaos. The fact that some of these musical sequences would require exquisite set pieces along with the expensive licensing deals for specific songs justifies the need for the Joker sequel’s massive budget. Come October, Joker: Folie à Deux can massively change the way audiences look at the DC Universe movies and jukebox musicals.