The actor, who earned the Academy Award for the Best Actor, owing to his splendid and spellbinding performance in Todd Philips’ Joker, Joaquin Phoenix is reportedly returning again as the lead role in the Joker sequels.
As reported by The Mirror, Phoenix is currently in talks with the Warner Bros, for two films and if the venture succeeds, and the films become spontaneous hits, then Phoenix would get an estimated $50M.
It is also rumored that the Oscar-winning actor will supposedly collaborate again with Todd Philips (the director) and producer Bradley Cooper.
An official source has reported, “It’s still being negotiated but the scripts are being written and Joaquin is very engaged with it. They plan to make two sequels in the next four years, with a long-term commitment to Joaquin and his Joker director Todd Phillips and producer Bradley Cooper.
It’s all about getting Joaquin to accept the terms – and the biggest payday of his career by far”. The method in which Phoenix portrayed the eccentricity of Arthur Fleck and the behavioral patterns that were meticulously studied by Phoenix before he undertook the role, can never be replaced by any other actor.
Phoenix had thought earlier that Joker is one movie, which cannot have a prequel or a sequel because that time frame in itself speaks for the sheer madness of a social outcast and his even larger dreams.
Arthur Fleck has been described as a poverty-stricken man, struggling to survive and also keep his aged mother alive. He has dreams, which he cannot afford to fulfill, but who needs money to dream? Since the very beginning, we detect an eccentricity in him, something abnormal.
Aided by Joaquin’s phenomenal acting, the madness and eccentricity get even more amplified, leading him to rise as an antisocial rebel icon. Phoenix had expressed his desire of working on a sequel in an interview, “Long before the release or before we had any idea if it would be successful, we talked about sequels.
In the second or third week of shooting, I was like, ‘Todd, can you start working on a sequel? There’s way too much to explore.’ It was kind of in jest — but not really”.
The first release is reported, set by 2022, tentatively. And another installment will follow, in 2024.
