Joaquin Phoenix says Kiss inspired “Joker: Folie à Deux”

The latest blockbuster to be released is the highly anticipated sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the main character and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Although it is inspired by the comic book character, director Todd Phillips created a very different film in 2019, drawing inspiration from Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. It would be expected that he took a similarly unique approach with the sequel, which has been both praised and criticized by audiences due to its numerous musical numbers.

But in an interview with USA Today, Phoenix revealed that one of the inspirations for the movie were Kiss and Gene Simmons.

Joaquin Phoenix says Kiss inspired “Joker: Folie à Deux”

“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 laughing. “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,” Joaquin Phoenix said.

What Phoenix described actually happened. In 1983, nine years after the band formed, they decided to remove their make-up. This ‘unmasked’ era began with the album Lick It Up (1983) and continued with Animalize (1984), Asylum (1985), Crazy Nights (1987), Hot in the Shade (1989), and Revenge (1992). The make-up returned in 1996 when original members Peter Criss (drums) and Ace Frehley (guitar) rejoined the band. Although they left again a few years later, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley decided the band would continue touring with their iconic look.

They used the make-up until their retirement in 2023.

The band inspired Robert De Niro in “King of Comedy”

Curiously, Robert De Niro, who was part of the first Joker movie and also the main character in the Martin Scorsese movie “King of Comedy”, which inspired the first movie of the Batman villain, also was inspired by Kiss back in the early 80s. Gene Simmons told that story in an interview with Classic Rock in 2016.

Gene Simmons said that he isn’t actually close to the actor and is really a kind of “hello, goodbye” relationship when they bump into each other in places. The bassist said that the late Kiss drummer Eric Carr, who lost his battle against cancer in 1991 at the age of 41, had a “pretty hot black girlfriend named Pantera”. According to Simmons, De Niro was really interested in her when he met Carr and “wasted no time on zoning in on Pantera”. Simmons didn’t say if something happened between the two.

De Niro and Kiss’ fan “Fat Vinnie”

But, the biggest connection between Kiss and De Niro happened when the actor spent some time with one of the most hardcore Kiss fans in history called “Fat Vinnie”. Simmons told that the fan had seen something about 200 or 300 concerts of the American group until the early 80s, “He travels around the world. He’s had triple-bypass heart operations. All the way through the recovery process he has still seen every show”.

De Niro was about to start to film the Martin Scorsese praised movie “The King Of Comedy” that shows an extreme fan of Jerry Lewis. To prepare for the role De Niro wanted to meet a hardcore fan and Eric Carr introduced him to Fat Vinnie. Simmons said that the actor actually lived at Fat Vinnie’s house for sometime to really see how his life was. “He fashioned his idiosyncrasies and his style of talking for the entire film on a Kiss fan! In fact, there’s a pivotal moment where De Niro said he wanted Fat Vinnie to come and work for him as his driver and personal assistant. But Vinnie said, “Sorry, I can’t. Kiss is going back out on tour!”” Gene Simmons said.