Here is the first image of Lady Gaga from the upcoming Joker sequel, Joker: Folie Deux. On Tuesday, the movie’s director, Todd Phillips, posted a still from the movie to Instagram along with the message, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
The pic features a bleach-blonde Gaga peering passionately into the eyes of the Joker himself, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who is reprising his role as the DC Comics villain.
Gaga has crimson face paint that looks like it came from the Joker’s makeup spread over her lips and nose. Phoenix is giving Gaga the same focused gaze in return, but her expression is more kind than the astonishment in the House of Gucci actress’s eyes.
The first-look image coincides with reports that Lady Gaga keeps quiet while the project is being shot. Gaga has been keeping to herself recently because she is so preoccupied with her work, a source told ET last month.
The source stated, “She’s very engrossed in the Joker sequel, and a lot of her energy is going toward that. She “wants to kill it” and is completely in the zone.”
Gaga was chosen to act with Phoenix in the eagerly awaited follow-up to the 2019 thriller Joker in August 2022. She shared a graphic teaser for the movie on Twitter to announce her participation in the project.
Joker: Folie à Deux
10.04.24 pic.twitter.com/obp7T9lBFL— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) August 4, 2022
The caption of the image, which features a black-and-red video of Phoenix and Gaga’s shadows coming together, also announces the release date of the sequel: Oct. 4, 2024, which is precisely five years after the debut of the first film.
According to rumors, Gaga will play Harley Quinn, the Joker’s companion in crime and the doctor he sees at the asylum. The third current interpretation of the character would be Gaga’s portrayal of the notorious first lady of the Clown Prince of Crime.
In the DC Comics Extended Universe, Margot Robbie portrays Harley in the Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey films, and Kaley Cuoco provides the voice of Quinn in the animated series Harley Quinn on HBO Max. When ET got up with Robbie in December 2022, she gushed about how “excited” she was for Gaga to play the famous role.
“I think she’s going to do an amazing job. I’m so excited, it’s all I could’ve ever hoped for Harley was that she would become one of those characters, kinda like Batman or Hamlet, that gets handed from actor to actor; everyone gets a go at playing them,” Robbie said. “So, it’s just credit to her as a character that people want to see her in multiple iterations. I’m excited.”