JOKER: FOLIE Á DEUX PRODUCTION
2 019’s Joker defied expectations to become a global sensation. Grossing over $1 billion worldwide, it swept awards season and earned 11 Oscar nominations, ultimately securing wins for best actor and best original score. This DC villain origin story even took home Venice’s Golden Lion, a feat virtually unheard of for a major Hollywood studio release – never mind a comic book adaptation. It’s fair to say that its follow-up Joker: Folie à Deux has polarised opinion. Some have celebrated its bold musical elements, powerhouse performances and thematic ambition, while others have been left puzzled by the radical departure from its predecessor. But there’s one thing on which both camps seem to agree: that the film is a visual triumph. Much of that can be credited to Lawrence Sher, the cinematographer who returned to collaborate with director Todd Phillips after the success of their work on the first Joker .
Sher and Phillips have a creative partnership spanning more than 15 years and seven films, including The Hangover series. Their chemistry, finely tuned through years of collaboration, was already crackling long before they decided to reinvent Gotham’s most notorious baddie. “What makes it work is trust, first and foremost,” Sher reflects. “But it’s also about pushing each other in the right ways.” Neither settles for the easiest path and their shared goal, reveals Sher, is to continually challenge one another – always searching for new boundaries to push. In Folie à Deux , they’ve pushed those boundaries like never before. The Joker’s bleak, grimy world is pierced with vibrant, dreamlike sequences and showstopping old-Hollywood musical numbers. These moments – woven into the backdrop of his volatile romance with Harley Quinn (or Lee Quinzel, as she is known here, played by Lady Gaga) – allowed Sher and Phillips to expand the film’s visual
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