From drastic weight loss to singing live: keeping up with ‘Joker’ cast, crew

They are travelling around the world for their supervillain movie premiere

Trying to explain why we connect with something is like trying to hold water in your hands. It's tangible but slippery. Joker was such a movie and won acclaim at the box office and during the awards season.

Director Todd Phillips (The Hangover series) told me back then there would be no sequel with Batman. So when Joker: Folie à Deux debuted in Venice in August, I was interested to hear the lure that brought him and star Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator) back to the character who divided critics and made you feel guilty for identifying with an anarchist. Those who loved the first film were keen to know what happened next. The first won multiple award nominations. This one offers mayhem, Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) and love. 

“And despair,” Phillips added when summing up the film.

The movie is about how love lifts you from despair. The contradiction of the first film was that Joker connected with people’s despair, but rather than lift them through aspiration, he evoked chaos and anarchy. 

Joker: Folie à Deux finds Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, awaiting trial for his actions in the first film. Continuing to struggle with his dual personality, he connects with another inmate, (Lady Gaga) and love ensues. Together the two make music, and while moments are poignant and tender, carnage is the stew. Viewers are again likely to be divided as to whether this is a masterpiece or trumped-up art.

“I knew Joaquin was not necessarily going to do a sequel to anything ever,” Phillips picked up the story of teaming up again with the Oscar winner.

“We had joked about doing a sequel while we were making the first, but agreed, if we did, it had to scare him in the same way the first one did. It had to feel audacious, like we were swinging for the fences with something different. That was our directive. To make something as unexpected, breaking out with the freedom of Arthur's imagination, and where Arthur would take something.” 

Phoenix called Phillips after a dream he had about Joker/Arthur singing on stage with Phillips in the wings directing. That was the jumping off point of doing a second chapter of Joker as a stage play. Ultimately the idea was scrapped, though the musical elements were retained for Joker: Folie à Deux. Some are framing the film as a musical, as Lady Gaga and Joaquin sing old favourites, though untraditionally. 

Lady Gaga, who Todd and Joaquin refer to by her real name Stephani (Germanotta), confessed: “The first film deeply moved me. I loved it so much. It set the bar extremely high.”

“Sometimes when stories are told about people who are misunderstood by society, it gives you a chance to take a hard look at that world in a deeper way. I felt like when I watched the first film I got to understand and see something I may have never seen before. That's why I did the movie.” 

It was Lady Gaga’s idea to sing live in the film. Phoenix was against it.

“Early on Stephani was like, ‘Oh, we're going to sing live’. I was like, ‘No we're not. (laughter) You can sing live if you'd like’. Ultimately, it was the only way. We sang live and every part of the recording was live. We worked with a pianist on set. Each take was a different version of the song. That felt really exciting. We created an energy I felt was necessary.” 

Gaga nodded: “We worked on the way we sang. For me, it was a lot about unlearning technique, forgetting how to breathe and allowing the song to completely come out of the character.”  

With the first film much was made of the 24kg Phoenix lost for the role. If anything he is even more gaunt in this film.

He spends a lot of time avoiding talking about it with the press but acknowledged: “We worked with a doctor. This time the weight loss felt a bit more complicated because there was so much dance rehearsal.”

Being physical when eating less takes a toll.

“It felt more difficult. I’m 49. I probably shouldn't do this again.” 

At the Venice Film Festival press conference, when asked about weight loss, he deflected the question to Lady Gaga, who seemed a little startled by his words: “Stephani also lost a lot of weight.”

“I did?” she challenged him before segueing.  

“We transformed into our characters over a period of time, and continued to hone every detail. Preparing the waltz was really special. We rehearsed for months, but it's interesting. It's a waltz that falls apart. It’s a nice expression of this very strange love between them.”

She gives a lopsided grin: “Yeah, he did great on set. We fed him blueberries when he was really hungry.”

One assumes she’s talking about Phoenix, who sanguinely sailed on with commentary. 

“The waltz is a great example of making the movie because we rehearsed for a few months. Then 10 days before we shot it, we radically altered the entire choreography. I think it's indicative of what the process was like with everything we were doing, where we would really work on something and choreograph it, and then throw it out.

“It was the beauty of the whole thing. You can learn a song, a dance, you can drill something over and over until you have it nearly perfect, but that's not always the most honest thing to do on camera. The joy of filming was that when we got there, we threw it all away when the camera was rolling.”