Lady Gaga In Talks to Play Harley Quinn in ‘Joker 2’

This is not a joke: Lady Gaga is in talks to join Joker 2.

As Harley Quinn.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gaga “would play Harley Quinn” if she finalizes a deal to make the film — which is also apparently a musical.

Last week, Joker director Todd Phillips confirmed the long-rumored project was moving forward with an Instagram post of the script for the film, which was titled Joker: Folie à Deux, a reference to a medical condition where “an identical or similar mental disorder that affects two or more individuals, usually members of the same family.” If the Joker is involved, the only character canonically he’d share a mental disorder with would be Harley Quinn.

THR writes that “it is unclear whether Phillips and company are using other DC characters or striking on their own, as they did in many instances with their first movie.”

The DC Extended Universe already has its own Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie, who has played the Joker’s off-and-on girlfriend in Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad. But Joker is not set in the same DC Comics universe as those films; the first movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker, was set in the past, and showed a man named Arthur Fleck, who slowly goes man and adopts the identity of the Joker and inspires the populace of Gotham City in dark and frightening ways.

Despite the fact that the movie did not feature Batman (at least not an adult Batman; a young Bruce Wayne had a small cameo role), Joker was a staggering hit for Warner Bros., grossing $1.07 billion worldwide. Phoenix won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance, and has said repeatedly that he would be interested in reprising the role. But opposite Lady Gaga in a musical? I don’t think anyone saw that coming.