How Kiss Inspired the New ‘Joker’ Movie

Joker: Folie a Deux star Joaquin Phoenix drew inspiration from a different group of musical clowns as he prepared to reprise his role as the titular supervillain: Kiss.

The follow-up to 2019’s Joker stars Phoenix as the Joker (nee Arthur Fleck) and singer and actor Lady Gaga as his love interest, Harley Quinn. Folie a Deux takes place two years after Joker, by which point Arthur has been arrested and is in custody at Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for a series of murders.

Phoenix and director Todd Phillips were determined not to make a straightforward sequel to the $1 billion-grossing Joker, instead putting a twisted love story at the musical’s core. “We didn’t want to just carry on from the first film like, he’s the Joker now, so now we’re going to see him out there robbing banks,” Phoenix told USA Today. “There wasn’t going to be any of that.”

READ MORE: The Best Song From Every Kiss Album

How Did Kiss Inspire ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’?

By the time the events of Joker: Folie a Deux transpire, Arthur has become disillusioned with his Joker persona — which is where the Kiss inspiration came into play.

“Did you ever think, how about Gene Simmons from Kiss? Where 20-year-olds are painting their faces, putting on platform shoes, all rock ‘n’ roll,” Phoenix said. “But what happens when you’re in your 40s and like, ‘I don’t want to put the makeup on anymore’? I just started laughing about that. Todd and I were like, maybe that’s the beginning of something.”

Kiss technically got sick of applying their signature makeup long before their 40s. The theatrical rockers famously ditched their face paint in 1983, only to reapply it in 1996 for a massive reunion tour — at which point Simmons was just shy of 47. Kiss continued to tour for the next 25-plus years, playing their final show in December 2023. Simmons was 75; his longtime bandmate Paul Stanley was 71.

Simmons has since been touring with a solo band, and he insists the physical Kiss is done for good (making way for the eventual avatar Kiss). “No more makeup for me,” he said in March. “But we’re the luckiest people in the world.”