Quentin Tarantino praises Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix for their performance in 'Joker: Folie a Deux'
Oct 31, 2024
Washington [US], October 31 : Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has all the appreciation for Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix starrer 'Joker: Folie a Deux', reported People.
Lady Gaga plays the role of Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix. 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. The sequel to the 2019 film 'Joker' hit the theatres on October 4.
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 dollars at the worldwide box office and bagged Phoenix a Best Actor Oscar.
"I really, really liked it, really. A lot. Like, tremendously," the Oscar-winning filmmaker said about 'Joker: Folie a Deux'.
"I went to see it expecting to be impressed by the filmmaking," Tarantino said, adding,, "but I thought it was going to be an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn't think worked like a movie... but I didn't find it an intellectual exercise. I really got caught up into it."
He had particular praise for Phoenix as Arthur Fleck a.k.a. Joker and Lady Gaga as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn.
"As much as [2019's Joker] was indebted to Taxi Driver, this seems pretty... indebted to Natural Born Killers," said Tarantino. "That's the Natural Born Killers I would have dreamed of seeing."
While calling the original film "one-note," he added that Phoenix gave "one of the best performances I've ever seen in my life" in Folie a Deux.
Folie a Deux is a movie musical, as he mentioned, "I really liked the musical sequences. I got really caught up. I thought the more banal the songs were, the better they were. I find myself listening to the lyrics of 'For Once in My Life' in a way I never have before," reported People.
'Joker: Folie a Deux' is in theatres now.
