Joker: Folie à Deux set to open with ‘Looney Tunes-inspired cartoon’

Joker: Folie à Deux is set to open with a “Looney Tunes-inspired cartoon” sequence, the movie’s director has revealed.

A sequel to 2019’s critically acclaimed Joker, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the titular villain and Batman nemesis, Joker: Folie à Deux is a “musical thriller” which introduces his love interest, the equally psychotic Dr Harleen Quinzel; more commonly known as Harley Quinn.

While the first trailer largely kept the plot details under wraps, fans have slowly been drip-fed more information about Joker 2 ever since the release of the second trailer. And a new interview with director Todd Phillips has explained how the movie is set to begin. 

Phillips revealed to Variety that the Joker will feature in the cartoon introduction by Sylvain Chomet, who directed the Oscar-nominated 2003 comedy/adventure animation The Triplets of Belleville. 

Speaking about the introduction, as well as the extensive musical sequences by Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix, the director said there is a reason why those stylistic choices were made.

“The goal of this movie is to make it feel like it was made by crazy people,” Phillips said. “The inmates are running the asylum.”

Using cartoon sequences is a device that often crops up in TV series or films to emphasize the mental instability of characters. For example, the Amazon Prime series The Boys shows Black Noir imagining several cartoon friends, particularly during his traumatic flashbacks. 

But despite the “Die With A Smile” singer reportedly recording around 20 songs for her role, the filmmaker is reluctant to call the genre of Joker 2 a “musical”. 

He said: “Most of the music in the movie is really just dialogue. It’s just Arthur not having the words to say what he wants to say, so he sings them instead.

“I just don’t want people to think that it’s like In the Heights, where the lady in the bodega starts to sing and they take it out onto the street, and the police are dancing. No disrespect, because I loved In the Heights.”

Phoenix then echoed this sentiment, adding: “It was important to me that we never perform the songs as one typically does in a musical. We didn’t want vibrato and perfect notes.”