Movie buffs are puzzled about why the billion-grossing movie Joker in 2019 has turned into a 2024 damp squib sequel for Joker: Folie a Deux. Not that the critics loved the earlier version about the murderous clown afflicted with mental illness with its potential to inspire acts of real-life violence and criticism of its brutal nihilism. This one appears to have cut across ‘the tastes of the core audience of Joker fanboys, including the embittered incel quotient whose preoccupations it channelled’ and ended up pleasing no one.
This one may lose $200 million though star Joaquin Phoenix and the director/producer Todd Philip both on $20 million and Lady Gaga on $12 million won’t go without.
Principal photography started on 10 December 2022 with a tricky Sagittarius Sun opposition Mars square Neptune which tr Saturn has been impacting negatively this year. Tr Neptune is also now conjunct the Jupiter, bringing disappointment to high hopes.
Todd Philip, the director, co-writer and producer, of both Jokers is also a Sun Sagittarius in his case square Pluto in final degree Virgo, both of which are catching the undermining tr Neptune hard aspects at the moment. He will get a lift over the coming year with his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Jupiter so it may not condemn his career for ever.
Joaquin Phoenix, 28 October 1974 Rio Colorado, Argentina, has a frustrating, infuriated, trapped tr Pluto square his Mars in Scorpio now and moving on to square his Venus and Sun in Scorpio over the next three years, so he will be under great pressure.
Lady Gaga, 28 March 1986 9.53am New York, has her Aries Sun and possibly Solar Arc Midheaven both in Aries catching the recent Solar Eclipse and the one next spring for a crisis of direction. And won’t appreciate tr Saturn Neptune square her Mars by mid 2025 but overall won’t be dismayed for too long.
None of which matters a jot except I wonder if it signals a shift in the culture where a mentally ill, murderous anti-hero no longer fits the mood of the moment.
The post Joker – insane killer no longer funny first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
