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Joker was a unique movie among the DC Films that we’ve seen in recent years, and while it was perhaps the movie based on a comic book that was least in need of a sequel, we’re getting one anyway. The fact that the movie was getting a sequel at all was something of a surprise, but not nearly as much as the news that the upcoming DC movie, titled Joker: Folie à Deux, would be a musical. Well, hang on for one second, because director Todd Phillips says that’s not quite the case.
From the earliest rumors to Lady Gaga joining the Joker 2 cast, all signs pointed to a strong musical influence in the new movie. Speaking with Variety Todd Phillips makes it clear he’s a bit uncomfortable with calling the movie a musical. Not because there isn’t a significant amount of singing and dancing in the film, the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer makes it clear that there is, but he says it’s not quite delivered in the way that it is done in musicals. Phillips 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.
The question of whether a song in a musical is actually taking place within the story, whether people are actually breaking into song, or whether what we’re seeing is actually some sort of dream sequence, is usually left intentionally vague. But unless the scene is of an actual performance, most often those musical moments aren’t really happening. We’re seeing a character’s emotions get the better of them and that is being represented to the audience as a break into song.
While what we know of Joker: Folie à Deux confirms that scenes like that type of musical moment are included, it sounds like most of the singing is just characters choosing to sing rather than speak, indicating that everybody else will be able to hear them singing. For a movie that will have significant sequences in an asylum, that probably won’t be the strangest thing people do, so it may not even go remarked upon.
Part of this seems to be Todd Phillips managing expectations. It’s not that he has anything against musicals, he appears to like them, but for anybody who might be going to see the Joker sequel because they want to see a traditional musical, he wants people to know what they’re getting, because it won’t be that. He continued…
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.
In an era when many movies that are actual musicals seem to want to try and hide that fact, it’s honestly good to get this clarification. People who love musicals might be disappointed if they thought they were getting a traditional one, and those audiences that aren’t necessarily musical fans may be more interested in the sequel in learning this movie is something a little different.