Todd Phillips and Joker: Folie a Deux aren’t letting a good crisis go to waste as filming is planned outside a place getting a lot of media attention lately – largely because a former President is in the hot seat there. A scene for the DC Elseworlds film is being shot outside the courthouse where a grand jury is preparing an indictment of Donald Trump.
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As The New York Post and NBC report, a crew with a trailer and equipment is swarming the location surrounding the Manhattan Criminal Court and “taking over several blocks of street parking on Saturday and Sunday.” They plan to set off staged explosions and gather 700 extras playing protesters while Lady Gaga might also be scheduled for an appearance.
Gaga plays the Joker-verse answer to Harley Quinn co-starring with Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck and reportedly Robert De Niro, although he died at the end of the 2019 movie. Yellow signs “announcing the film crew’s parking takeover” call the film “Juliet,” a nod to Shakespeare and Joker’s working title of “Romeo” that confirms the reported Folie a Deux alternate production name.
Fake titles like that are used as decoys to ward off fans who have a chance of loitering to catch a sneak peek and perhaps a spoiler or two. News Lady Gaga could be there and the notoriety of the courthouse are both counterproductive to that end, but it’s done all the time and occurred on the set of the first Joker.
In 2019, they tried to turn away prying eyes from the Bronx staircase where Phoenix danced to Gary Glitter in a pivotal scene. It didn’t work then and isn’t now as “onlookers and reporters had gathered near the iconic courthouse on Center Street and Hogan Place.” The building is a New York landmark and has been used in several movies and TV shows.
Currently, you might see it on TMZ or the nightly news with Trump, his detractors, and the public awaiting the grand jury to pass down an indictment in a hush-money case. The former POTUS and controversial figure is accused of paying money to adult film performer Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair. Expected on Tuesday, no indictment was voted on yet.
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