Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga and director Todd Phillips lit up the Lido at the 81st Venice International Film Festival with the world premiere of “Joker: Folie à Deux.”

The sequel to 2019’s Golden Globe-winning “Joker” tackles a multitude of genres in the follow-up story of the DC supervillain. The narrative twists and turns, from animation to psychological drama to romance to musical, including a number of intricately choreographed musical scenes for the two leads.

When asked to discuss his stylistic choices for the movie at the film festival’s official press conference Sept. 4, Phillips explained: “I think visually and stylistically, (“Joker: Folie à Deux”) exists in the same world as the first film for a lot of it and then we break out of it for certain things. We break out of it with the freedom of Arthur’s imagination and where Arthur would take something.”

Addressing the musical scenes, the director added: “To me, beyond having music in him [in the first film], Arthur had a sense of romance to him. He had panache and he had style, even though you didn’t really see it. What the musical elements in this film enabled us to do visually is to lean into that style. But, again, to me it’s all informed through his eyes.”

The choreographed song and dance numbers required months of rehearsals for Golden Globe winners Phoenix and Gaga. “Preparing the waltz in the film was really, really special,” she revealed. “We rehearsed for a few months, and it’s interesting because it’s a waltz that kind of falls apart. It’s a nice expression of this very strange love between the two of them.”

Added Phoenix, “The waltz is a great example of what it was like making this movie because we rehearsed for a couple months, but then we radically altered the entire choreography 10 days before we shot it. I think that’s indicative of what the process was like with everything that we were doing, where we would really work on something and choreograph it, but then throw it out.”

Venice was deemed the perfect location to launch the Warner Bros. sequel. This is where “Joker” premiered in 2019 and was awarded the festival’s Golden Lion before going on to win two Golden Globes. However, Phillips admitted to feeling a little more trepidatious about this second visit with the franchise.

“There are a lot more expectations on a second film,” he remarked. “There’s definitely a sense of more nervousness than I had with the first one.”

The original “Joker” earned more than $1 billion at the international box office. But is the sequel the end of the road for Phillips’ bold interpretation of these comic book characters? While there are no confirmed plans for more films in the franchise, the director hasn’t fully ruled out a return to Gotham in the future.

“Probably not,” he explained to the press room. “For me, it’s hard to say ‘not’. Everything I do is dictated on actors. What actor could I work with? Who am I dying to work with and could I build something around that person? Clearly these films have been built around Joaquin – and then we introduced Gaga. I can’t really say yes or no, but it’s not necessarily my goal to stay in this space.”

“Joker: Folie à Deux” will be released in U.S. theaters on Oct. 4, following an international launch on Oct. 2.