Lady Gaga and director Todd Phillips shoot Joker 2 along iconic stairs

The shoot for the much-anticipated sequel to Joker, titled  which translates from French to English to ‘Madness For Two’, is now in its fourth month.

On Saturday, director and co-writer Todd Phillips appeared to be devoting much of his attention to cast newcomer, , for a scene along the iconic stairs in that was in the original.

The pair looked to be in deep conversation about what the scene at hand entailed, as they walked down those steps with crew members following close behind.

At one point, Gaga (born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta), 37, flashed a big beaming smile while wearing a furry black coat over a black polka-dot dress,  matching shoes and socks, and her blonde locks styled long and slightly messy.

They would then briefly stop at one of the open landings along the stairwell so that Phillips could point something out to the star.

Phillips and Gaga continued on down the stairs while sharing their opinions on what was needed for the day’s work.

Once their conversation ended, the director made his way down to the large camera rig set up at the bottom of the staircase, while the singer-turned-actress turned around and headed up several flights to the marker for the scene.

Once Gaga got situated for her moment in the spotlight, she turned around and gave a thumbs-up towards admiring photographers, as well as the film team below.

Eventually, Phillips yelled out, ‘Action,’ and she began the slow walk down the stairs for the scene that didn’t appear to include any of her co-stars or extras.

For the sequel, Joaquin Phoenix reprises his role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, a mentally ill, impoverished party clown and stand-up comedian disregarded by society, whose history of abuse causes him to become a nihilistic criminal with a clown motif. 

Lady Gaga is playing Dr.Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist who falls in love with Arthur.

Zazie Beetz also returns as Sophie Dumond, a cynical single mother whom Arthur fantasized as his love interest, but in reality, they met once.

The cast for Folie à Deux also includes the likes of Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland and  Harry Lawtey, among others.

Set in 1981, the first film follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and aspiring stand-up comic whose descent into mental illness and nihilism inspires a violent countercultural revolution against the prosperous in a decaying Gotham City. 

The original film, Joker, made its world premiere at the 76th Venice International Film Festival in August 2019, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation the crowd, and then went on to win the Gold Lion Award, which is the highest prize given to a film at the festival in Italy.

Joker went on to become a hit with both critics and fans, grossing a staggering $1.074 billion at the worldwide box office.

Originally planned to be a standalone film, the massive success of Joker sparked talk of a sequel, which went into development in early 2021

As a result of the first film’s commercial success, Phoenix’s salary, increased from $4.5 million to a whopping $20 million for the sequel.

Phillips had previously stated that he would be interested in making a sequel, depending on the film’s performance and Phoenix’s interest.

In the end, all parties involved were in favor of continuing on with the story, only this go-around is being described as a musical psychological thriller.

Principal photography for Joker 2 kicked-off back on December 10, 2022, which Phillips marked by sharing a first look photo on his Instagram page. 

The picture showed Phoenix as Fleck, laying back while getting his face shaved, with the caption: ‘Day 1.Our boy. #joker.’

He would follow up by sharing other images of Phoenix and Lady Gaga on social media, which included a Valentine’s post of the two stars staring intensely into each other’s eyes with the caption: ‘Happy Valentines Day.’

Joker: Folie à Deux is scheduled to premiere in theaters on October 4, เว็บตรง 2024.