Entertainment / September 2, 2022

Brendan Gleeson to star in the Joker Musical Sequel

Brendan Gleeson in Cáca Milis
Entertainment / September 2, 2022

Brendan Gleeson to star in the Joker Musical Sequel

Ciarán Howley

Gleeson is one of several Irish actors to appear in the DC Extended Universe

It was reported yesterday that Irish actor Brendan Gleeson will appear in the upcoming sequel to DC’s Joker, directed by Todd Phillips. Entitled Joker: Folie à Deux the film will see Gleeson star alongside Joaquin Phoenix as the eponymous clown prince with Lady Gaga reportedly set to play Harley Quinn. Also set to return is Atlanta actor Zazie Beets and director Todd Philips. 

As of yet, it’s unknown exactly what role Gleeson will play and details remain sparse save for cast and crew announcements. The sequel will reportedly be a musical of sorts, picking up in Arkham Asylum where the first film left off. 

If the last DC movie was anything to go by, Brendan Gleeson may very well be playing a villain. Two Irish actors portrayed villains in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, another of DC’s efforts to tone down the franchise from the campier Zack Snyder era.

An unrecognisable Colin Farrell played the Penguin under a fat-suit and mounds of prosthetics while Barry Keoghan was teased in the final moments of the film to play the Joker to go up against Robert Pattinson in the sequel. So don’t be surprised if Brendan Gleeson is the villain this time around. Or anti-villian in this case.

The 67 year old actor from Dublin is known for his roles in films made in Ireland like In Bruges, The Guard and Calvary but has found success over the years in American cinema. He’s appeared in the Harry Potter franchise, the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Joel Coen’s solo debut The Tragedy of Macebth.

And while Martin McDonagh’s upcoming Banshees of Inisherin unites Gleeson, Farrell and Keoghan on the Emerald Isle, his true magnum opus will of course always be Cáca Milis.

The film follows a deadly encounter on a train in rural Ireland – all over a slice of cake. Leaving Cert students can never purge the traumatic sight of Gleeson violently eating cake with his bare hands. It’s the weirdest thing to ever emerge from Irish cinema and it’s even better that Gleeson was in it.

Elsewhere on District: Colin Farrell gets ghosted IRL by Brendan Gleeson in ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ trailer