The failure of Joker: Folie à Deux was fairly one thing. The unique film grossed over $1 billion worldwide and earned Joaquin Phoenix an Academy Award for Greatest Actor. In hindsight, it actually ought to have stopped there, however with that form of cash on the desk, you may’t fault Warner Bros. for desirous to money in once more. Sadly, the sequel grew to become one of many largest bombs of 2024. It solely managed to gross $207.5 million worldwide and was trashed by critics, not precisely the wonderful follow-up the studio had anticipated. Girl Gaga starred alongside Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux, and not too long ago spoke with Rolling Stone in regards to the adverse response to the film.
“I wasn’t, like, unfazed,” she mentioned. “It’s humorous, I’m virtually nervous to share my response. However the reality is, when it first began taking place, I began laughing. As a result of it was simply getting so unhinged. When it takes some time for one thing to dissipate, that may be a little bit extra painful. Solely as a result of I put quite a lot of myself into it.“
Gaga continued, “There was a ton of negativity around Joker. And I think I was feeling artistically rebellious at the time.” She defined that the Joker sequel impressed the darkish music video for her track Illness. “I put so much of that energy into that video,” she mentioned. “I used to be in that place, you realize, I used to be like, ‘I’ll present you who I’m, and I’ll present you what this battle is like.’“
The sequel finds Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) awaiting trial for his crimes at Arkham State Hospital, the place he develops a romantic relationship with one other inmate, Lee (Gaga). Because the pair develop nearer, they envision themselves in a wide range of musical eventualities. It definitely wasn’t the sequel Joker followers wished. The movie additionally misplaced the studio an infinite sum of money, because the funds for the sequel had ballooned to $200 million.
Our personal Chris Bumbray wasn’t a fan of the sequel, feeling that it solely exists as a result of the primary film made a boatload of cash. “Perhaps Joker was too big of a hit not to get a sequel, but watching Joker: Folie à Deux, you get the distinct feeling that this was an exercise in style for Phillips rather than a sequel that HAD to be made,” Bumbray wrote. “As it is, though, this Joker sequel spins its wheels and winds up being an often dull courtroom movie livened up by occasional flights of fancy into musical numbers. Those sequences are the best in the film, as without them, this would feel like a wholly unnecessary epilogue to what was originally a pretty powerful film.” You may try the remainder of Bumbray’s evaluate proper right here,
