Joker: Folie a Deux star Joaquin Phoenix drew inspiration from a special group of musical clowns as he ready to reprise his position because the titular supervillain: Kiss.

The follow-up to 2019’s Joker stars Phoenix because the Joker (nee Arthur Fleck) and singer and actor Girl Gaga as his love curiosity, Harley Quinn. Folie a Deux takes place two years after Joker, by which level Arthur has been arrested and is in custody at Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for a collection of murders.

Phoenix and director Todd Phillips had been decided to not make a simple sequel to the $1 billion-grossing Joker, as a substitute placing a twisted love story at the musical’s core. “We did not wish to simply keep it up from the primary movie like, he is the Joker now, so now we will see him on the market robbing banks,” Phoenix instructed USA Immediately. “There wasn’t going to be any of that.”

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How Did Kiss Encourage ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’?

By the time the occasions of Joker: Folie a Deux transpire, Arthur has turn into disillusioned along with his Joker persona — which is the place the Kiss inspiration got here into play.

“Did you ever suppose, how about Gene Simmons from Kiss? The place 20-year-olds are portray their faces, placing on platform sneakers, all rock ‘n’ roll,” Phoenix stated. “However what occurs once you’re in your 40s and like, ‘I do not wish to put the make-up on anymore’? I simply began laughing about that. Todd and I had been like, perhaps that is the start of one thing.”

Kiss technically bought sick of making use of their signature make-up lengthy earlier than their 40s. The theatrical rockers famously ditched their face paint in 1983, solely to reapply it in 1996 for an enormous reunion tour — at which level Simmons was simply shy of 47. Kiss continued to tour for the subsequent 25-plus years, taking part in their last present in December 2023. Simmons was 75; his longtime bandmate Paul Stanley was 71.

Simmons has since been touring with a solo band, and he insists the bodily Kiss is completed for good (making means for the eventual avatar Kiss). “No extra make-up for me,” he stated in March. “However we are the luckiest individuals on this planet.”