Eagle-eyed viewers think they’ve worked out what Joaquin Phoenix said Lady Gaga after the pair got a standing ovation for Joker: Folie à Deux.
As I’m sure you’ve heard, Todd Phillips’ musical sequel to Joker hasn’t been received very well.
If Rotten Tomatoes is anything to go by, Joker: Folie à Deux scored 33 percent among the critics and just 31 percent by the general audience.
Some called it ‘a waste of good film’, while others said it was ‘truly terrible’.
The movie follows the chaotic relationship between Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) and Harley Quinn (Gaga), set primarily in Arkham Asylum.
Quinn is his psychiatrist who becomes infatuated with Arthur.
Despite the bad reviews, the film did get a long standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival last month.
However, as Phoenix stood up to receive cheers, people on X think he told his co-star: “It’s horrible.”
Joaquin Phoenix had a word with Lady Gaga after getting a standing ovation for Joker: Folie à Deux (Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
And according to AI software, Gaga allegedly replied in no particular order: “Don’t say that.
“You think do? No, it’s not.
“Why, what are you talking about?
“I love that.”
Commenting on the clip, one person tweeted: “Someone should use that AI lip reader that I keep seeing on here to figure out what they were saying… it almost looks like Joaquin said, ‘it’s horrible’.”
Meanwhile others pointed out how unreliable AI can be, adding: “Can you make another edit, I’m pretty sure she said ‘I like big butts and I cannot lie’, I ran it through like seven AI detectors and they all agreed with me about the butts. Ta.”
Another person sarcastically wrote: “Yeah they chose this moment to have this conversation like it’s the first time they’ve seen each other since filming.”
On the night, meanwhile, the ‘Bad Romance’ singer told a press conference why she chose to move into acting.
Gaga said: “The reason I started making music when I was really little was because I just had something to say, and trying to figure out how to do that.
“One of the reasons I love music and I love movies so much is the stories that you get to tell, and the way that we get to express something to the world that will hopefully help people feel good about life and give them a moment to escape into another world to fall into somebody else’s story.
“I think that what I really meant to say is that I believe that movies have a tremendous power to change the way people feel, and that’s part of why I love to create.”
Phoenix also added: “The dream is not what inspired the movie, the dream was just, I had this dream that I was performing as the Joker doing songs, and I just called Todd and said there might be something there.”
Film fans, the day is finally here – so run to the cinema and grab your popcorn as Joker: Folie à Deux has just dropped.
Not to skew your opinion before you have even seen it, but the highly-anticipated sequel hasn’t had the best reception so far, seeing its score on Rotten Tomatoes slump down to a measly 39 percent.
And to rub a bit more salt in the wound, there’s a bloke who reckons that he deserves some credit for helping Joaquin Phoenix craft his persona for the Clown Prince of Crime.
Scott Lotan lives with a laughing condition just like the Joker, which causes him to burst into uncontrollable fits of giggles or even tears, and these exaggerated emotions often emerge at quite unfortunate times.
Take a look at this:
The man, from Virginia, US, suffers from something known as the pseudobulbar affect (PBA) which is a neurological condition that can occur in people with multiple sclerosis (MS).
It causes him to experience painful and exhausting laughing episodes – which can last up to 10 minutes at a time.
Lotan has no control over his villainous chuckles and they can be triggered at the most inopportune moments, such as in the aftermath of a tragic crash in which his fiancée and mum were killed.
Following the release of Joker in 2019, he shared his thoughts on Phoenix’s performance with LADbible, explaining that he thought the star did ‘a great job’ of conveying the struggles those with PBA face.
However, he believes that the Oscar winner and director Todd Phillips should have at least given him a nod for helping them perfect the DC character’s manic laugh – accusing the pair of ‘stealing his persona’ without any acknowledgement.
Scott Lotan suffers from the pseudobulbar affect (PBA) which causes him to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter (LADbible)
Speaking to LADbible in 2022, Lotan said: “OK, Joaquin, you don’t eat meat, you want to protect all the animals – what about the people? I mean, you stole my persona.
“You took my identity, and you put it on the screen and made millions, and you can’t help a community? You can’t donate to MS or Parkinson’s or any of these other things? I don’t get it.
“I’ve seen the interviews with Todd Phillips, I’ve seen the interviews with Joaquin, and they make reference to the videos, and that laughter, and how it helped develop the actual character.”
The father-of-two explained that he finds it unjust that the community who provided the blueprint for a quintessential element of Phoenix’s character went unrewarded for their assistance.
Lotan added: “At no single point, one of the highest grossing movies ever, have you reached out to do anything for the community.”
The US dad reckons that Joaquin Phoenix owes him some credit for inspiring his cackle (Warner Bros.)
“The reality is, when you look at my videos on YouTube and you watch that movie, you think about my storyline… It kind of helped form the character, the Joker itself,” the PBA sufferer said.
“No recognition from Todd Phillips, no recognition from Joaquin, or any of it.
“It’s like, not that I care to have you guys come pay me, but do something for the community.”
Lotan’s frustrations were likely spurred on by his life experience as someone living with PBA, as he told LADbible in 2021 how he had been refused service at restaurants and ‘asked to leave’ places as his laugh made people uncomfortable.
“Many times if I am out for a drink with friends, there is someone with low self-esteem that believes I am laughing at them and they will try and start a fight,” he added.
Opening up about how his PBA impacted his grieving process following the deaths of his mother and fiancée in 2003, the dad revealed he had to ‘separate himself’ from other mourners at the funerals due to his laughter.
Lotan explained he hoped the Hollywood star would reward the PBA community for their assistance (LADbible)
For Lotan, the disorder is also physically taxing as well, with his chuckles often leading to uncomfortable choking – something which he praised from Phoenix’s Oscar-winning performance.
“The choking comes from trying to catch my breath, desperately needing to breathe. Also, spit builds up in your mouth and as you pull in a breath the spit goes down the wrong pipe,” he said.
“My neck gets really sore and I am moving my head to try to relieve strain and sometimes that cuts off air.”
Lotan added that having PBA also ‘weighs heavy on the mind’, as the condition is broadly misunderstood, so people often have ‘preconceived notions’ about the real reason behind his amusement.
Praising Phoenix’s portrayal, he said: “I think he captured the feeling of isolation and frustration with the lack of understanding from others.”
Joker 2‘s Joaquin Phoenix and director Todd Phillips disagreed on one key part of the DC supervillain before shooting the first movie.
Joker: Folie à Deux finally hit cinemas last week, five years after Phoenix’s Oscar-winning performance as the chilling Arthur Fleck in the original film.
The actor put a unique spin on a character that has had polarising reviews since Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight.
But it seems Phoenix couldn’t replicate that magic in the Joker’s sequel where he starred opposite Lady Gaga, who portrayed Fleck’s love interest Harley Quinn, as the flick is currently rated just 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
In fact, it’s been reported that there have been ‘mass walkouts’ during screenings of the sequel so far, with fans less than pleased with the film after it was taken in a musical direction.
When we look back, we’ll hopefully remember Phoenix’s excellent take on the DC villain, with his signature sinister laugh, nervous demeanour and his iconic clown-like appearance.
However, it turns out that the actor had a spat with the director of both Joker films, Todd Phillips, over one aspect of the character that they seemingly never saw eye-to-eye on.
Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the Joker will go down in history (Warner Bros.)
Before the release of Joker in 2019, the Napoleon actor revealed to the New York Times that he had to lose a load of weight to play Arthur Fleck the way that Phillips envisaged him.
Calling the process of following a weight loss diet as a ‘horrible way to live’, Phoenix explained that he wanted the Gotham City tormentor to be ‘kind of heavy’ when speaking to Phillips, having lost weight for roles previously.
However, the director didn’t let it happen in the end, saying that Phoenix would need to get ‘real thin’ for the film. The actor ended up losing 52 pounds for his role in the first movie.
Joker: Folie à Deux has not been received well so far (Warner Bros.)
Phoenix spoke about his weight-loss for Joker: Folie À Deux at the Venice Film Festival in September, highlighting that he wouldn’t be doing it again.
The star revealed: “I’m not going to talk through specifics of the diet, because I just think nobody wants to hear that.
“But this time, [losing weight] felt a bit more complicated, just because there was so much dance rehearsal that we were doing, which I didn’t have last time.”
Phoenix concluded: “So it felt a bit more difficult, but it is safe.
“I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again. This is probably it for me.”
Joker: Folie à Deux is in cinemas now.
Joker 2 has been receiving mixed reactions, with many viewers furious at the creative decisions from the movie.
Whether it be the decision to make the movie a musical, to change up the vibe from the first one, or some of the film’s more controversial moments, people have not been happy.
Joker: Folie a Deux has bombed at the box office, making just $40 million (£30.6m) at the domestic box office.
This is more than three times lower than what the first film made, and a $120 million (£91.8m)international opening leaves the film well short of the $1 billion (£765m) the original earned.
One complaint in particular from fans however, is those who have realised that several Lady Gaga scenes shown in the trailers appear to have been cut from the film.
One fan posted: “I’ll never forgive them for cutting these scenes.”
They then showed two shots from the trailers which didn’t make the final film, as well as a fan recording of a public set.
The public set showed Lee, Gaga’s version of Harley Quinn, kissing a random member of the public on her way into court to support Arthur (aka the Joker).
Another fan in the replies pointed to a scene in the trailers of Arthur and Lee dancing atop the court steps.
The fan who posted the original tweet replied saying: “Since this is going a little viral, I just want to say that Gaga was Amazing and this is in no way to discourage others from supporting our girl!
“I merely was just saddened that her parts were cut short. I still highly recommend the film”.
A scene of Lady Gaga’s which was cut (Warner Brothers)
Another replied saying: “I agree. She is amazing in the film and the exclusion of the aforementioned scenes merely cut her time short but nonetheless it was still great.
“Sad tho we didn’t see her full transition. There was so much potential there.”
The film has been released to an incredibly poor critical and fan reaction, making it one of the worst box office bombs of the year.
While the film initially had mixed (if positive) reviews at the festivals before its public release, it has since dropped to a whopping 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The fan score is even lower, at 31 percent.
Dylan Roth of the Observer said in their one-star review of the film:
“Joker: Folie à Deux is a product of wild, aimless ambition, the sort of mad swing that would be laudable if it weren’t so absolutely awful.
“It falls flat as a musical, as a courtroom drama, as a romance and as a character piece.”
Bad news, Joker fans – it is not looking good for the film’s sequel out this weekend.
While the film’s reviews have been mixed thus far, social media reactions are beginning to release from fans attending early screenings this week, and it has been predominantly negative.
Joker: Folie a Deux was a shocking sequel as many expected Joker to be a stand-alone film.
This was never a likely outcome however, as the first film made over $1 billion (roughly £752.8m), and earned Joaquin Phoenix an Academy Award for his performance as Arthur Fleck.
Early reactions to the second film, however, have not been good from fans.
One tweeted: “If you liked the first Joker, you will not like the sequel.
“If you did not like the first Joker movie, you will outright hate and despise Joker 2.”
Another said: “Joker 2 is the first movie I’ve seen in years where the audience booed during credits. Both Phoenix and Lady Gaga are horrible in this!
“Watching Joker 2 was the equivalent of having food poisoning & kidney stone at same time.”
A third quoted a picture of them at a screening saying: “it is so, so much worse than you could ever imagine”.
Another posted a scene from towards the end of Joker, where Arthur Fleck stands on top of a taxi surrounded by adoring fans of his.
The viewer claims that the sequel has ruined this now-iconic scene.
They tweeted: “Honestly this is why I was disappointed in Joker 2. It literally ruins this scene for me.
“This scene was phenomenal and watching it for the first time in the theatre was an experience but now it means absolutely nothing.
“There should have never been a sequel. One and done.”
The film is sitting at a 59 percent on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, as well as a 6/10 on IMDb.
Kevin Maher of The Times agreed with the view that the sequel was needless, saying in his two-star review: “Phillips and co smashed back into the self-contained world, shook all the contents out on to the carpet and… had another go.
“The result? Messy, lifeless, derivative and exactly what you’d expect from a film that simply doesn’t want, or need, to exist.”
In Ben Rolph’s review of Joker: Folie a Deux for DiscussingFilm, however, he gave the movie four stars, saying: “Joker: Folie à Deux is an enchanting follow-up that boasts some bold risks and surprise twists that will leave fans speculating for days.
“Love it or hate it, it’s looking like this one-of-a-kind interpretation of Joker and Harley Quinn’s romance will have a tight grip on the public zeitgeist for the foreseeable future.”
Joker: Folie a Deux will officially release in the UK on October 4.
