‘Joker: Folie à Deax’ Adds ‘Industry’s Harry Lawtey

EXCLUSIVE: Harry Lawtey (Industry) has signed on to star alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga and more in Todd Phillips’ anticipated Joker sequel Joker: Folie à Deux.

The actor will be part of an ensemble that includes the previously announced Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener and original Joker cast member Zazie Beetz.

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While plot details for Warner Bros and DC Films’ upcoming comic book pic have been kept under wraps, Phoenix will reprise his role as Arthur Fleck, with Gaga as Harley Quinn, the Arkham Asylum shrink who falls in love with her patient, otherwise known as the iconic Batman villain Joker. The film will reportedly be set within Arkham — where Fleck winds up at the end of the original film — and feature musical elements. (The latter part of the pic’s title translates in English to “madness shared by two,” presumably referring to the relationship between Fleck and Quinn.)

Warner Bros couldn’t be reached for comment regarding Lawtey’s casting, and while the specifics as to his part in the new Joker film aren’t forthcoming, we hear that his role will be a big one.

As was the case with the original Joker, Phillips will direct from a script written with Scott Silver. The film, set apart from the DC Extended Universe, is expected to go into production in December, with an eye toward a theatrical release on October 4, 2024.

Set in ’80s Gotham, the first Joker watched as the mentally troubled stand-up comedian Fleck embarked on a downward spiral that led to the creation of an iconic villain. The film released in October 2019 grossed more than $1 billion worldwide and brought Phoenix his first Oscar, with its composer Hildur Guðnadóttir becoming just the third woman in history to claim the statuette for Best Original Score.

Lawtey is a British actor who plays a lead role on HBO’s hit drama series Industry, which last month came to the end of its second season. The actor will next be seen starring alongside Christian Bale in Scott Cooper’s adaptation of the Louis Bayard novel The Pale Blue Eye, which Netflix will release in limited theaters December 23 prior to its streaming debut on January 6. Also coming up for Lawty is the Russell T. Davies-produced series You & Me for ITV.

Lawtey is represented by UTA, the UK’s Hamilton Hodell and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.

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