Venice Film Festival: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga get standing ovation at ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ premiere

VENICE: Todd Phillips’ directorial musical psychological thriller film ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, received a standing ovation at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. It was a moment of pride for the ace director and the film stars, Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga with director Todd Phillips, who last appeared on the lido with ‘Joker’ five years ago, winning the festival’s Golden Lion award, were congratulated by an ecstatic theatre crowd at the Sala Grande, receiving an incredible 10.5-minute standing ovation. ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ releases on October 4.

Throughout the ovation, the audience occasionally erupted in yells of “Ga-ga, Ga-ga, Ga-ga!” During interruptions in the chants, others exclaimed, “Gaga, we love you!”. The actor-singer thanked and blew kisses to fans when she wasn’t being made to giggle by her co-star throughout the applause.

#JokerFolieADeux starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga received a 11-minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival. pic.twitter.com/FsBJGdalKz

— Film Crave (@_filmcrave) September 4, 2024

The first ‘Joker’ was a huge success, both critically and commercially. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, with Joaquin Phoenix winning Best Actor and Hildur Gudnadottir winning for Original Score. It became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever. Phoenix reprises his role as Joker in the sequel, and Lady Gaga joins as Harley Quinn.

The supporting cast includes Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Harry Lawtey. Zazie Beetz returns as Sophie from the first film. The sequel is said to be a musical, building on Phoenix’s dancing scenes from the original.

The first instalment earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office and bagged Phoenix a best actor Oscar. Phillips shared during the press conference ahead of the premiere that “it feels correct” to be back in Venice debuting his sequel, but he conceded that making the follow-up made him “more nervous.”

“It’s a lot easier to come into something as an insurgent than it is as the incumbent,” he said. “There’s definitely a sense of more nervousness with this second one.”

Gaga plays Lee, who eventually becomes Harley Quinn, a patient in Arkham State Hospital, a mental institution where Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck is a maximum-security inmate. When Arthur, who is awaiting trial for the murder of five people, joins a music therapy group, they quickly develop a romantic relationship. Lee recognises Arthur as the Joker and attempts to reawaken his alter-ego.

“Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz), Arthur’s neighbor in Joker, makes a brief appearance when the character is brought in as a witness for the prosecution team led by young assistant district attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) before his villainous alter ego Two-Face shows up,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Phillips and Phoenix shared that they had agreed, that if they did return for a sequel, “it had to feel audacious and like we were really swinging for the fences,” according to the director. They asked themselves, “Could we make something unexpected like the first one even though it’s a sequel?”

The mega-successful pop artist described working with her fellow actor as “a breeze.” She shared with the media, “I actually really enjoyed it, and it was a completely different experience than I’ve ever had with another actor. He’s incredibly loose and free.”

When asked about their weight loss for the film, Phoenix declined to say exactly how many pounds he lost. “It felt a bit more difficult, but it is safe. But you’re right, I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again. This is probably it for me,” before saying to his co-star: “We did rehearsals, and we left for a month and came backm and you’d lost a lot of weight, it was really impressive”. Gaga added, “We fed [Joaquin] blueberries when he was hungry,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. (ANI)