In “Joker: Folie à Deux,” there is a scene where Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck is awaiting sentencing. He’s just fired his defense attorney and he’s decided he’s going to represent himself. His lover Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga) comes to visit him in his jail cell, giving him a kiss as the guard yells “No touching.”
For cinematographer Lawrence Sher, the scene was simple and used a two-camera set up. “We did something slightly unconventional, which is, I cross-shot them,” Sher explains, meaning both close-ups were shot and lit at the same time.
Speaking to Variety as part of the Inside the Frame series, Sher explains, “We put clear story windows along one side. They were small enough that I knew that it would allow light to feed in towards Arthur and be a nice backlight for Lee. We added a little fluorescent down the center of the hallway, as well as over his cell, and that would be a motivating source for her close-up. She represents the love in the movie and warmth.”
In contrast, Lee’s side of the coverage had fluorescent lighting, which wasn’t beautiful and clean. “It’s still our ugly ‘Joker’ fluorescent. It’s warm, and his side is a little cooler.” That coolness represents the shadow side of Joker, the side that Lee loves.
The color palette was driven by windows and fluorescents, so production designer Mark Friedberg built sets enabling Sher to shoot 360 degrees.
The fantastical and musical aspects allowed Sher to explore much more dynamic and interactive lighting expanding his color palette. “There were a lot more primaries and stronger colors reds and blues and greens.”
As with the previous film and for visual continuity, Sher used ARRI’s Alexa 65 large format to shoot the film. “It provides a portraiture feeling to the close-ups, the way the background down the hallway really goes soft, and you feel like the characters are the one focal plane in whatever shot you’re in, even if we’re in a wider lens, and that’s what I love about this format.”
The biggest difference this time around was the film was shot specifically for Imax “with the intention of changing aspect ratios for Imax screens.”
Sher used a lot of the same spherical lenses as the first film. “The five or six hero lenses were the 35mm Zeiss compact prime, a Nikkor 58mm [for] close focus — that’s a real hero lens — Prime DNA lenses, the Leica Macro-Elmar 90mm and the ARRI Signature 350 mm, that plays very much in that visitation.”
The fundamental difference Sher says is that “Joker 2” is a romantic movie. “It’s a character study of two human beings with a shared madness as they meet each other, and his struggle with his shadow self.”
Sher points out there’s a performative aspect to Arthur’s mind, and for the first few minutes of the film, he doesn’t speak. “The first interaction he has with another person is when they move to another ward to go have an interview, and at the end of the hallway, there’s a beacon of warm light. Lee’s introduction is warmth. She steps out into the hallway in that warm side light, puts this to her head and smiles, and that’s their first connection. Now she’s brought sunlight into his life.”
Watch the video above.