Joaquin Phoenix Is Back as the Joker in Folie à Deux First Look

Joaquin Phoenix is putting on a happy face… again. Todd Phillips’ sequel to 2019’s Joker has officially begun filming, and the director just marked the occasion by posting a photo from the first day of shooting, featuring Phoenix on set in character as the titular comic book villain.

“Day 1. Our boy,” he wrote.

Phoenix famously underwent a dramatic body transformation for Joker, losing 50 pounds and looking eerily emaciated on-screen. “It’s something I’ve done before and you work with a doctor regimented and overseen and safe,” he said at the time. This first-look still from the sequel makes it look like he may have gone through a similar process.

While Joker was very much a dark character study and a starring vehicle for Phoenix, he sequel, which has been confirmed as being entitled Joker: Folie á Deux, looks set to be much more of a two-hander, and will introduce a new version of a familiar face from the comics and DC movies: the Joker’s partner in crime, Harley Quinn. Famously portrayed by Margot Robbie in the Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey movies, and voiced by Kaley Cuoco in the character’s own animated show, this latest incarnation of Harley will be played by Lady Gaga.

While many fans are already eager for Phoenix reprise the notorious role and to see what Gaga does with the character of Harley following her larger-than-life performance in House of Gucci, not everybody is convinced that Joker needed a sequel. “I don’t know if it needs one,” said Zazie Beetz, who starred in the original. “I think there is a lot of strength in not milking something.”