Folie À Deux Trailer (& What It Means)

The first trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux has arrived, and it has a musical element that is an apt choice to emulate the mental struggles of Joaquin Phoenix’s antihero Arthur Fleck. A sequel to Todd Phillips’ DC blockbuster Joker, the confirmed details about Joker: Folie à Deux suggest it would play out as a jukebox musical. With the Joker: Folie à Deux cast also featuring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, the toxic romance between Gotham’s Clown Prince and his psychiatrist-turned-love interest gets a major makeover. What’s interesting, however, is how much the trailer underplays the film’s musical elements.

With the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer offering some hallucinatory stage visuals, these scenes serve as a pastiche of old musicals or Broadway theatrics with both Joker and Harley Quinn performing duets. While Lady Gaga has already enjoyed a Grammy-winning stint as a pop star before her acting career, the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line similarly makes Phoenix’s musical turn as Joker promising. Still, the trailer doesn’t find either Phoenix or Gaga actually performing any musical numbers. A cover of a song is heard over the trailer footage though, one that might be more than just a yesteryear needle drop.

The Joker: Folie À Deux Trailer Song Is “What The World Needs Is Love”

The Song Is A Cover Of A Track Originally Sung By Jackie DeShannon

The song that plays throughout the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer is a cover of “What The World Needs Is Love,” a 1965 song first recorded by pop-rock artist Jackie DeShannon. Written in simple rhymes by lyricist Hal David, the 60s-era track was later famously remixed in 1971 by Tom Clay, who interspersed speeches by John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to reinterpret the song’s hook (a call for world peace). Not much is known about the cover version that plays in the trailer, but the presence of the song suggests the musical might include more 60s tracks.

It’s known that Joker: Folie À Deux will be a jukebox musical with renditions of 15 previously recorded songs. With “What The World Needs Is Love” in the trailer, Todd Phillips’ Joker movies continue the trend of relying on iconic songs from the decade. Even though Joker is set in the 80s and includes music from that time, some crucial scenes were backed with 60s-era releases like Frank Sinatra’s uplifting ballad “That’s Life” and Cream’s chaotic rock anthem “White Room.” Such a convergence of musical eras and genres can be multiplied in Joker: Folie À Deux considering its tonal shifts.

Why “What The World Needs Is Love” Fits With Joker: Folie À Deux’s Story

The Lyrics Are Comparable To Arthur Fleck’s Life

Using Jackie DeShannon’s song for the first trailer of Joker: Folie à Deux might subtly foreshadow the premise of the Joker sequel. As is evident from the first Joker’s soundtrack, the musical choices subtly conveyed the moods of the central character, Arthur Fleck. While the usage of a track like “Send in the Clowns” fits the titular Joker motif in the literal sense, the Sinatra classic “That’s Life” plays during Joker’s twist ending and conveys the escapist amusement Fleck has achieved in Arkham. Despite having murdered and created anarchic chaos all across the city, the song conveys his morbid enjoyment.

But while “That’s Life” was a song of acceptance, “What The World Needs For Love” is a cry of hope. DeShannon’s laid back vocals are backed with lyrics that yearn for a more equal society. With the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer song’s main refrain going, “What the world needs now, is love, sweet love,”Joker fans are bound to be reminded of Fleck’s emotional speech on Live With Murray Franklin when he expressed his desire to be loved by an increasingly unkind society. Maybe, crossing paths with Harley Quinn is what might finally provide the Joker with some “sweet love” in Joker: Folie à Deux.

Joker: Folie a Deux

Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips’ critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.

Director

Todd Phillips

Release Date

October 4, 2024

Writers

Todd Phillips , Scott Silver

Franchise(s)

Joker