Todd Phillip’s anticipated follow-up to the massive hit Joker is set to hit screens in about a month. The side-film origin story that told a different interpretation of the popular Batman villain was the former highest-grossing R-rated film until this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine overtook it for the number-one spot. Perhaps Joker: Folie à Deux can offer up some new competition? The sequel not only explores Arthur Fleck’s blossoming romance with Harley Quinn, who is portrayed by Lady Gaga, but the upcoming film also sports a musical twist.
While the first film kept the Batman ties close by including the Wayne family, this new film expands to more characters of the universe as the official social media account of Joker: Folie à Deux has unveiled a new ad for the movie that features an appearance by Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent. Obviously, fans know him by his Batman villain alias, Two-Face, but it will remain to be seen if the film decides to flesh out that specific fate for him. In the meantime, get a peek at Harry Lawtey (known for HBO and BBC Two’s acclaimed series Industry) as he portrays Dent in the new commercial.
Additionally, Warner Bros. has also released a new clip of our two main characters getting to know each other as Harley reveals to Arthur that his appearance on The Murray Franklin Show from the first movie gave her a sense of belonging. We, then, get a tease of some music as Harley starts to serenade Arthur in a quiet manner before being shushed by guards.
Although Arthur and Harley frequently break into songs such as Get Happy, For Once in My Life, and That’s Life, Phillips isn’t totally sold on labelling the sequel as a full-blown musical. “Most of the music in the movie is really just dialogue,” Phillips said. “It’s just Arthur not having the words to say what he wants to say, so he sings them instead.” Phillips added, “I just don’t want people to think that it’s like ‘In the Heights,’ where the lady in the bodega starts to sing and they take it out onto the street, and the police are dancing. No disrespect, because I loved ‘In the Heights.’“
In addition to Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Joker: Folie À Deux also stars Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Harry Lawtey. Zazie Beetz also returns to reprise her role as Sophie Dumond from the first movie, a love interest for Arthur. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it’s been said that much of the sequel will take place within Arkham Asylum, which is where we left Arthur in the last film. Joker: Folie à Deux will hit theaters on October 4th.
Oh, hi, Bruce! It’s pretty rare when a bad movie influences a filmmaker in a positive way. Maybe someone like Tim Burton is intrigued by the do-it-yourself style of Ed Wood and makes a brilliant biopic but most bad movies are examples of what not to do. Then again, not all are…Take cult flick The Room, for example. Sure, there’s James Franco’s The Disaster Artist to recount the making of Tommy Wiseau’s pet project, but The Room actually partly inspired an installment in one of the biggest franchises ever. That’s right, without The Room, the visual style of The Batman may not have been what it was.
As Miguel Santana da Silva – digital artist for Industrial Light & Magic who worked on The Batman – recently revealed, the matte paintings in some of The Room’s most infamous scenes were a direct inspiration for how Gotham would look in certain scenes. “Good opportunity to mention that when composing the look of Gotham in the sunset scene, I took a small amount of inspiration from the rooftop matte painting in The Room, which actually vibes so much harder than it has any right to.”
Tommy Wiseau even replied to the post, writing, “What a story”. And Wiseau knows a thing or two about The Batman, as he even participated in a Nerdist-commissioned audition tape at the time when Joaquin Phoenix was announced as the new Joker. He even donned the makeup once more to recreate the interrogation scene from The Dark Knight, with The Room co-star Greg Sestero standing in as Batman.
Wiseau continues to be a champion for The Room. While he has a different perspective on it than the eventual audience does, it must be cool for him to see a tribute of this level. Now I’ll have to rewatch The Batman to see if the production team hid any spoons in the frame…
The Batman would make $766 million worldwide while The Room took in about $58,000 in its initial 2003 run…although special screenings have bumped that number up.
Are you a fan of Tommy Wiseau’s The Room? Have you caught a midnight screening of the movie?
Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and that can only mean one thing – it’s TIFF time, baby! Once again, I’ll be attending the Toronto International Film Festival on behalf of JoBlo.com. I’m looking forward to getting an early look at some of the prestigious awards fare we’ll all be hearing plenty about in the coming months. Crazy enough, this will be my sixteenth year in a row covering the festival!
Here’s what I’m most excited to check out at this year’s edition:
Conclave:
Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the biggest surprises of the 2022 edition of TIFF, as that new adaptation of the classic novel/ film proved to be one of the most dazzling war films in recent memory. It put Berger on the map in a big way, with him tipped as potentially taking the reins of the James Bond franchise once a new 007 is cast. He’s back at TIFF this year with a buzzy adaptation of the Robert Harris novel Conclave, which follows the intrigue behind a papal election and is said to feature one of star Ralph Fiennes’s best performances ever as a Cardinal questioning his faith. His lapsing Catholicism aside, he might be the most qualified candidate for pope because, unlike many of the other Cardinals (which include sterling cast members like John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci), he doesn’t crave power. Apparently, this has a knockout twist ending that I hope isn’t spoiled for me before I finally see the movie.
Better Man:
Robbie Williams isn’t as big of a deal in North America as he is in Europe, but trust me when I say that in the UK, he’s a major icon who’s had more than his share of challenges, which should make for an intriguing biopic. However, I’ll admit that the main reason I want to see this is that director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) opted to have Williams be portrayed by a CG chimpanzee, which, apparently, is a dead ringer for Caesar in the Planet of the Apes movies. Yes, you read that right – the movie stars a CGI chimpanzee. But, let’s be honest, you want to see it now, don’t you?
The Brutalist:
The breathless reviews out of Venice are calling Brady Corbett’s The Brutalist a masterpiece and a sure-fire Oscar contender for whoever picks it up. The film stars Adrien Brody as a Hungarian architect navigating his life and career in post-WWII America. The entire film was shot in 70mm VistaVision and is being presented at the festival on celluloid. It even gets an intermission, as it runs well over three hours. Brody and costar Guy Pearce are said to deliver Oscar-calibre performances.
The Life of Chuck:
Mike Flanagan takes a break from limited series for a new movie (his first since Doctor Sleep), which – natch – is another Stephen King adaptation, this time of his novella of the same name. It stars Tom Hiddleston in the title role alongside Mark Hamil, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Dastmalchian, Kate Siegel, Karen Gillan and more.
The Order:
This true crime tale from Justin Kurzel (Assassin’s Creed) stars Jude Law as an FBI agent in the 1980s trying to shut down a Neo-nazi cell run by a racist demagogue played by Nicholas Hoult. This is based on the real-life slaying of liberal Jewish radio host Alan Berg, who’s played in the film by Marc Maron, which also inspired the Tom Berenger/ Debra Winger film, Betrayed back in 1988.
Heretic:
Hugh Grant dips his toe into the horror genre for this buzzy A24 release. In it, two Church of Latter-Day Saints missionaries (Yellowjackets’s Sophie Thatcher and Fabelmans star Chloe East) knock on the wrong door and are invited in for a chat about theology that goes…awry. This one is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers of A Quiet Place.
Saturday Night:
Jason Reitman’s chronicle of the hours leading up to the premiere of Saturday Night Livedrew raves out of its Telluride Film Festival premiere, with many calling it his best movie since Up in the Air. Apparently, the casting is spot on (which includes Succession star Nicholas Braun in dual roles – Jim Henson and Andy Kauffman), and the pace is propulsive, leading to some truly breathless early reviews. As a lifelong SNL fan, I’m excited to hear that someone has finally done the crazy story behind the making of the show justice.
Megalopolis:
So, this one comes with a big caveat. While I’m excited to see Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis (reviews be dammed), I’m turned off by the fact that (so far) no press screenings have been scheduled for the film at the festival (unheard of), while press tickets to the two showings have been scant. I will do my best to get in, but I think it’s highly questionable that (again – so far) the press is seemingly being kept from seeing the movie.
Queer:
Luca Guadagnino is one of my favourite current directors. I’m keen to see his long-awaited William S. Burroughs adaptation, which stars Daniel Craig and features a deliberately anachronistic score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Apparently, Guadagnino’s been tinkering with this movie so much that he cut close to an hour out of it just before its Venice Film Festival premiere, but whatever the case, A24 picked it up and is planning an award-season run for it.
Ick:
Joseph Kahn is one of those directors who never gets enough credit. His movie, Torque, is a kind of hilarious spoof of mid-2000 era action movies (particularly The Fast and the Furious) but critics seemingly didn’t get the joke. His follow-up, Detention, was a genre-bending blast, while his rap battle movie, Bodied, absolutely killed at TIFF’s Midnight Madness a few years ago, only to sink into obscurity due to the fact that the short-lived YouTube Red bought it and gave it a streaming release a lot of folks missed. Now he’s back with Ick, another genre mash-up which stars one-time Superman Brandon Routh in a potential comeback role as a high school science teacher helping his students fight an alien grown which sounds an awful lot like The Blob. I love movies like this, and Kahn’s movies are nothing if not entertaining.
Which TIFF movie are you most hyped-for? Let us know in the comments!
Amy Adams has been in development with Nightbitch for quite a while, but you can now get a first look at the new surreal film now that a trailer has recently released from Searchlight Pictures. The film has been written and directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Nightbitch is based on a novel by Rachel Yoder. The film will tell the story of “a suburban mom thrown into the stay-at-home routine of raising a toddler. As she embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a dog.”
Adams plays that possibly canine housewife. Scoot McNairy (Monsters) is also in the cast, playing her “oft-traveling husband,” while Mary Holland, who is best known for appearing in the Netflix release Senior Year and for co-writing and co-starring in Clea DuVall’s romantic comedy Happiest Season, takes on an unspecified role. The cast will also include Arleigh Patrick Snowden, Emmett James Snowden, Zoë Chao, Archana Rajan and Jessica Harper.
Coming to us from Searchlight Pictures and Annapurna, Nightbitch is produced by Heller, Adams, Anne Carey, Stacy O’Neil, Christina Oh, and Sue Naegle. Sammy Scher and Havilah Brewster serve as executive producers.
Yoder’s novel (pick up a copy HERE) has the following description: “One day, the mother was a mother, but then one night, she was quite suddenly something else… An ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler’s demands, only to discover a dense patch of hair on the back of her neck. In the mirror, her canines suddenly look sharper than she remembers. Her husband, who travels for work five days a week, casually dismisses her fears from faraway hotel rooms. As the mother’s symptoms intensify, and her temptation to give in to her new dog impulses peak, she struggles to keep her alter-canine-identity secret. Seeking a cure at the library, she discovers the mysterious academic tome which becomes her bible, A Field Guide to Magical Women: A Mythical Ethnography, and meets a group of mommies involved in a multilevel-marketing scheme who may also be more than what they seem. An outrageously original novel of ideas about art, power, and womanhood wrapped in a satirical fairy tale, Nightbitch will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. And you should. You should howl as much as you want.”
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer beta weekend is over, but I’m still a little shell-shocked from it. The sixth installment in the long-running Activision sub-franchise is faster than ever before, and full of players who have already gotten the brand-new omnimovement system down to a science, which means every…
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer beta weekend is over, but I’m still a little shell-shocked from it. The sixth installment in the long-running Activision sub-franchise is faster than ever before, and full of players who have already gotten the brand-new omnimovement system down to a science, which means every…
Last week, Blizzard launched War Within, the latest World of Warcraft expansion. And for those of you wondering if that one player who never left the starting area of Mists of Pandaria aka the Panda expansion is still neutrally grinding away and hitting the max level in 2024 the answer is: Yes. Yes indeed.
Last week, Blizzard launched War Within, the latest World of Warcraft expansion. And for those of you wondering if that one player who never left the starting area of Mists of Pandaria aka the Panda expansion is still neutrally grinding away and hitting the max level in 2024 the answer is: Yes. Yes indeed.
How much of yourself would you compromise to live in the lap of luxury? Would you take the plunge if the path to Easy Street was as simple to walk as marrying into a seemingly ordinary but twisted collective of Stepford-like siblings led by a deranged matriarch and her equally disturbed husband? As Netflix‘s The Perfect Couple trailer unfolds, Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson) is about to find out.
Here’s the official synopsis for The Perfect Couple courtesy of Netflix:
Amelia Sacks is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families in Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famous novelist Greer Garrison Winbury, has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season — until a body turns up on the beach. As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect.
Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, The Perfect Couple stars Nicole Kidman as Greer Garrison Winbury, Liev Schreiber as Tag Winbury, Dakota Fanning as Abby Winbury, Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco, Jack Reynor as Thomas Winbury, Billy Howle as Benji Winbury, Micheal Beach as Dan Carter, and more.
In Netflix’s The Perfect Couple trailer, a dead body threatens to unmask the sanctimonious and secretive Winbury clan, a family of well-off socialites with more skeletons in their closets than an overstocked Spirit Halloween. As the investigation heats up, tensions rise within the Winbury clan, revealing hidden motives, ongoing feuds, salacious secrets, and synchronized dance numbers.
The Perfect Couple is from creator Jenna Lamia. Susanne Bier (Bird Box, After the Wedding, The First Lady) directs and executive produces. In addition to creating the show for Netflix, Lamia is the showrunner, writer, and executive producer. The Perfect Couple consists of six one-hour episodes, premiering on Netflix on September 5.
Who do you think is responsible for the dead body on the Winbury family’s posh property? Will anyone else die before the story reaches its end? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Squid Game fans will be eating good this Christmas, as last month, a teaser trailer was released for season 2 of the hit Korean show. The first season was a juggernaut for Netflix and the streaming platform is understandably eager to continue in the Squid Game franchise. Hwang Dong-hyuk recently let it be known that Squid Game will be wrapping up with season 3, so we have more episodes to look forward to beyond season 2. In addition, Netflix is also moving forward with a second season of Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality series in which 456 players compete for a US$4.56 million cash prize by competing in challenges based on those in the series.
What’s On Netflix is now reporting that Netflix is extremely interested in hiring David Fincher to be heavily involved with an English-language spin-off, tentatively titled Squid Game: America. While there hasn’t been confirmation whether Squid Game: America will be a closely tied spin-off, it is expected the project will more likely be part of the original Squid Game world rather than an out-and-out remake. According to rumor podcast TheInSneider, “Netflix is courting DAVID FINCHER to produce and direct an American take on SQUID GAME. No idea whether he’s engaging, but they want him to tackle this project BADLY, per multiple sources.” It is also being said that Dennis Kelly, a British writer and producer, who is best known for stage plays Debris and Utopia and movies like Matilda the Musical and Black Sea, will be set to write the project.
Meanwhile, Squid Game season 2 has the following synopsis: Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it.
Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo reprising their roles from the first season. New cast members include Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri, and Won Ji-an.
