Everyone was waiting to see what Todd Phillips was cooking when he cast Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie a Deux, and so far, it looks like she’s going to make for one original ‘Lee Quinzel.’
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The movie is said to be a ‘jukebox musical’ which means it would be featuring covers of existing songs (like Illumination’s Sing franchise). With every musical, there’s always expected to be a companion album, and Gaga had just dropped the tracks online.
The Joker by Lady Gaga
Probably at the very top of the soundtrack list of the Harlequin album is the song ‘The Joker’ which can be heard here:
Though some may think that this is an original song written for the movie, it’s actually a cover of The Joker by Shirley Bassey. Several other songs from the album also include obscure musical songs like That’s Entertainment; Singing in the Rain fans will be familiar with Good Morning.
Dancing and Music
It’s no mystery that Arthur has always been about ‘having music inside him’ and the first movie has the Joker frequently dancing to express major milestones in his life. Arthur dances after he murders the Wayne Industry guys; he dances when he’s fully dressed as the Joker for the first time; and he dances after he murders Murray Franklin on his show.
With all of the music in the Harlequin album coming from Lady Gaga, it’s possible that metaphorically, Lee is now the one who is going to be providing the music to whatever Arthur is dancing—making the two an inseparable pair.
Even in the trailers, it’s Lee who is frequently propping Joker up to be the ‘symbol’ that people think he is after the events of the first movie. The audience knows really well that Arthur didn’t really mean to start this mania about the Joker, but with Lee and his audience pushing him, it looks like Arthur is going to further disappear into this Joker persona.
Mad Love
The dynamic between Joker and Harley is pretty different when it comes to Folie a Deux, and it looks like Phillips is really pushing their ‘shared madness’ dynamic. In previous iterations of the couple, it’s always been portrayed that the two are ‘toxic’; with Harley always jumping through hoops for Joker, and Joker not really treating her like an equal.
Since Arthur isn’t really a manipulative clown like Mark Hamill’s version, it would make sense that he would get a different Harley as well; who comes with a different set of skills and values. This one isn’t a psychiatrist, but a fellow patient at Arkham; and with the way she’s been building Arthur up, it could be Lee pulling the strings of this Joker variant.
Hopefully, they manage to come up with an original Batman for a third movie—should it ever get greenlit.
Catch Joker: Folie a Deux when it comes to cinemas on Oct. 4.
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