Posted on 10/04/2024 8:20:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Joker: Folie a Deux star Joaquin Phoenix drew inspiration from a different group of musical clowns as he prepared to reprise his role as the titular supervillain: Kiss.
The follow-up to 2019's Joker stars Phoenix as the Joker (nee Arthur Fleck) and singer and actor Lady Gaga as his love interest, Harley Quinn. Folie a Deux takes place two years after Joker, by which point Arthur has been arrested and is in custody at Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for a series of murders.
Phoenix and director Todd Phillips were determined not to make a straightforward sequel to the $1 billion-grossing Joker, instead putting a twisted love story at the musical's core. "We didn't want to just carry on from the first film like, he's the Joker now, so now we're going to see him out there robbing banks," Phoenix told USA Today. "There wasn't going to be any of that."
How Did Kiss Inspire 'Joker: Folie a Deux'?
By the time the events of Joker: Folie a Deux transpire, Arthur has become disillusioned with his Joker persona — which is where the Kiss inspiration came into play.
"Did you ever think, how about Gene Simmons from Kiss? Where 20-year-olds are painting their faces, putting on platform shoes, all rock 'n' roll," Phoenix said. "But what happens when you're in your 40s and like, 'I don't want to put the makeup on anymore'? I just started laughing about that. Todd and I were like, maybe that's the beginning of something."
Kiss technically got sick of applying their signature makeup long before their 40s. The theatrical rockers famously ditched their face paint in 1983, only to reapply it in 1996 for a massive reunion tour — at which point Simmons was just shy of 47. Kiss continued to tour for the next 25-plus years, playing their final show in December 2023. Simmons was 75; his longtime bandmate Paul Stanley was 71.
Simmons has since been touring with a solo band, and he insists the physical Kiss is done for good (making way for the eventual avatar Kiss). "No more makeup for me," he said in March. "But we're the luckiest people in the world."
I had a friend who loved kiss and never saw them. I Won a raffle at work for a table,was at about row 20 and took him.
That wasa nice of you. A table?
I knew a guy who had been a SEAL in Vietnam. He jokingly said one of the KISS guys stole his face camo pattern.
I guess the joker is the sort of trash that people find ‘entertaining’ but it’s just demonic trash imo. And how they write about it, like it’s’ something to be proud of... these people are sick. But please, go ahead and enjoy your hollywood entertainment / demonic brainwashing.
Honestly, I thought the first one from 2019 was a very overrated film that borrowed too many tropes from Martin Scorsese movies and thus had potential, but a lot of it was squandered.
How kind.
That was a thoughtful 🤔 thing to do.
“ is the sort of trash that people find ‘entertaining’”
I agree with you. I suffered through only a part of the first Joker. The commercials for the next one are indicating it will be worse. No talent in holly would.
Just a sick degenerative sickness being portrayed as entertainment.
Which explains why the new movie has been panned as unwatchable!
The first one was worth it just to watch DeNiro get it.
Yes, walnut creek in raleigh has tables up front with waiter service.
Yes, walnut creek in raleigh has tables up front with waiter service.
Saw it on Saturday. Don’t waste your money.
It’s basically a Lady Gaga movie with some Joker shyte mixed in.
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