“Joker: Folie à Deux” drops on Friday.
Folie à deux (French for 'madness of two'), also known as shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder (SDD), is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief are "transmitted" from one individual to another.
The film takes place a few years after the events of the 2019 original DC blockbuster, during which Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix) is languishing at Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial. There he falls in love with patient Harleen “Lee” Quenzel (played by Lady Gaga).
The rumor mill says that Phoenix’s efforts were rewarded with a pay cheque that jumped from $4.5 million for his Oscar winning performance in 2019, to $20 million for the sequel.
“I'm just saying that I think (the Academy Awards) is bullshit. I think it's total, utter bullshit, and I don't want to be a part of it. I don't believe in it.” (Joaquin Phoenix … before his Oscar-enhanced raise)
How is a 450% pay increase justified? “Joker” topped $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Not bad for an initial investment of only $62.5 million.
Only about 20% of films do more than break even, at best. Likewise, about the same number of VC-backed start-ups make money. It’s clearly a numbers game: you win some, you lose some.
In between “Joker” and “Joker: Folie à Deux”, Phoenix starred in 3 films, including indie and mainstream titles. None was commercially successful.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, received $12 million for her acting and musical contributions to “Joker: Folie à Deux”. Her most recent film was “House of Gucci” (2021), which brought in $147 million against a $75 million production budget. Small potatoes in comparison to “Joker”, but let’s be fair – “House of Gucci” was not a DC franchise.
This is a great documentary about Lady Gaga:
Lady Gaga has just released a concept album called “Harlequin”, made up of songs featured in the movie, which include mostly jazz swing standards and a few originals.
Gaga produced the album with her recently announced fiancé, 46 year old Michael Polansky – a Harvard-educated applied math and computer science geek who manages the business and charitable interests of Sean Parker, the co-founder of Facebook and Napster. Happily, he doesn’t need her money.
Lady Gaga’s last album, for which she earned a Grammy (“Rain on Me”, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Ariana Grande), was “Chromatica” (2020).
With Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga headlining “Joker: Folie à Deux”, can the film surpass the $1 billion dollar worldwide box office achieved by its predecessor? Both sequels, Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” and Marvel’s “Deadpool and Wolverine” have already done so this year … so it is possible. You can decide for yourself on Friday.
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