Joaquin Phoenix Had An Out-Of-This-World Idea For The Sequel – “What About Joker In Space?”
Arthur Fleck is a Joker of an alternate universe on his own journey and as such can go in any number of directions Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix want to take him. They settled for a musical, but they had other ideas even if they weren’t meant to be taken seriously.
The two also claim in an Empire interview that they were always discussing a sequel and pitching things going back to the making of the first one. “Joaquin and I talked about another one the whole time while we were making the first movie, just because we love the character,” Phillips asserts.
“We were obsessed with Arthur. We would almost joke about it: ‘Oh, we should take Arthur and we should do this,’” he continued. Phoenix adds that he was curious about the circumstances in which he could place Arthur and react, which is how the musical approach in Folie a Deux germinated.
“I had a curiosity about going further with the character,” he said (via Indie Wire). “It felt like you could put him into almost any situation, and I would be interested to see how he would navigate it.”
Scenarios of old movies started coming to mind. “I mocked up all of these posters of films that have already been made, like ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘Godfather,’ and I put Joker in them and I gave them to Todd,” Phoenix explained.
He soon hit on a very high-concept idea that was all the rage at one time. “There was a running joke of, ‘What about Joker in space?’ But yeah, I was fascinated by where he would end up,” Phoenix said.
The Joker in the comics or the animated universe might head to space for fun and games – or some death and schemes – but we know Arthur Fleck isn’t that Clown Prince since he’s not drawn to crime. His likelihood of blasting off beyond the stratosphere is slim.
RELATED: ‘Joker: Folie A Deux’ Director Todd Phillips Further Confirms Arthur Fleck Is Not The Real Joker
Even if he does, it isn’t usually the right move for the second movie. It took the Critters franchise and Hellraiser four movies to make that trip to the stars, and even longer for Jason Voorhees to walk in zero gravity (not counting Mad TV parodies).
A musical leaves adequate room for silliness, assuming that’s what Phoenix and Phillips desire. Still, it’s more rational compared to where they could go – although staying within the lines of expectation doesn’t guarantee a positive outlook.
Phillips still has cause to be nervous about his capability to catch lightning in a bottle again. “This is not a lay-up sequel. And that makes it really exciting for us,” he said.
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