Joaquin Phoenix meets his perfect match in Joker: Folie à Deux teaser

Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for his portrayal of a failed stand-up comedian struggling with mental illness in the 2019 film Joker, director Todd Phillips' controversial interpretation of the classic Batman villain. The honor was richly deserved. In my review, I called it a "masterful performance" that "transforms the narrative into something more than a competent-but-unremarkable tale of hard knocks driving a troubled man to violence." The film ended up topping $1 billion globally at the box office—the first R-rated movie to do so, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film ever.

Now Phoenix is reprising that role in Phillips' follow-up, Joker: Folie à Deux, costarring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. It's hard to imagine Phillips matching his earlier achievement, but Warner Bros. released the first teaser last night, and quite frankly, the film looks fantastic.

(Spoilers for the 2019 film below.)