Joker: Folie à Deux is rated R for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.”
Todd Phillips’ Joker sequel is about to get steamy. After DC Studios dropped the first poster for Joker: Folie à Deux on Tuesday, the Motion Picture Association’s rating board revealed it had given the picture an R rating. According to a new listing for the film, it’s rated R for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.”
It’s the same rating the Oscar-winning Joker carried but for different reasons. Upon its release in 2019, Joker was rated R for “strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images.” It seems that this time around, Folie à Deux will be a bit less violent, but put more emphasis on language and sexuality.
The film features the second major live-action film portrayal of Harley Quinn, with Lady Gaga stepping into the role for the DC Elseworlds release. The character will likely continue to be played by Margot Robbie in the proper DC Universe moving forward.
“It makes me so happy, because I said from the very beginning that all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters, the way Macbeth or Batman, always gets passed from great actor to great actor,” Margot Robbie previously said of Lady Gaga taking on the role. “It’s kind of like someone gets to do their Batman, or someone gets to do their Macbeth. I feel like, in not so many cases, are they female characters – Queen Elizabeth I, but beyond that, which I got to have a crack out as well, which I was honored to do. I was like, ‘Wow! Cate Blanchett did Queen Elizabeth I. Now I get to.’ It’s such an honor to have built a foundation strong enough that Harley can now be one of those characters that other actors get to have a go at playing. And I think she’ll do something incredible with it.”
Joker: Folie à Deux will be a musical that follows the twisted romance between Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck / Joker and Gaga’s Harley Quinn, with a lot of the film reportedly taking place within Arkham Asylum. The film will also feature appearances from Zazie Beetz, Brendon Gleeson, Catherine Keener, and Jacob Lofland.
The film is set to hit theaters October 4th.
