'Joker: Folie À Deux' Hits The High Notes In Official Trailer

The clown Prince of crime does the time of his life on October 4

DC Comics’s presence at San Diego Comic-Con this year is much more comics and television-focused, with the latter side not even attainable last year because of the dual strikes. It makes sense, as the one film DC Studios has in production, Superman, is still deep in and won’t be able to attend. They are left armed with only one film that probably would not be sufficient for a big Hall H-worthy presentation: Joker: Folie À Deux. Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Warner Bros. has put out the official trailer for the film, which will be released in theaters on October 4.

The trailer for the sequel to 2019’s Joker finally opens up on details and context of where the plot is: Two years since his rise, Arthur Fleck sees himself being considered a martyr in the court of public opinion after enduring the “trial of the century”. Put away at Arkham, he finds love in Harley Quinn and the “music that’s always been inside him”, giving people what they want: the chaos and the striking of a judge. They even do the dance down the stairs together, taking on apparent stardom. For once she doesn’t feel so alone. At the start of the trailer several are talking about Fleck’s case, seemingly calling in on radio. Maybe it’s televised press conference audio being played over the scene for the sake of the trailer. Among those voices, the captions reveal, is Harvey Dent, Gotham City's crusading, law-abiding district attorney destined to become the scarred, multi-personality Two-Face. He’s prosecuting the case, and has been confirmed to be Harry Lawtey’s role.

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Joker: Folie À Deux is directed by Todd Phillips, who also co-wrote the film with Scott Silver. Catherine Keener, Brendan Gleeson, Steve Coogan, Ken Leung and Jacob Lofland fill out the cast of new characters, with Zazie Beetz the returnee with the presumed biggest role as Sophie Dumond, Arthur’s former neighbor. Recently casting director Francine Maisler shared that casting Gaga as Quinn was not originally her idea but Phillips’s. The resulting performance surprised her greatly “She’s so good in it, you guys. She’s going to blow your mind,” Maisler said. “But I will tell you, she’s really surprising — and really good. I saw it and I was really surprised. I mean, we all knew what she could do in A Star Is Born, but I thought, ‘Oh, well, that’s kind of in her wheelhouse.’ Something she could do and just be real. But this… Man, she’s good.”

Who knows, maybe this trailer was released just as much to be packaged in front of Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios’s one film this year which opens Friday. Joker: Folie À Deux opens in theaters October 4.

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Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, ComicBook