Lady Gaga is a global pop star who has seamlessly made the transition into acting. She’s got a penchant for appearing on Awards Season favorites, and for taking her job and marketing the films super seriously. Lady Gaga is still going full method on sets, and this Joker 2 BTS story had her going by another name entirely. And no, it’s not Mother Monster.
Given the wild success of Joker, which earned Joaquin Phoenix an Academy Award, Warner Bros. quickly moved forward with a sequel from director Todd Phillips. The upcoming follow-up is titled Joker: Folie à Deux, and will surprisingly be a musical. Gaga is playing Harley Quinn in the mysterious project, and the director of photography Lawrence Sher has gone viral on Twitter when describing his experience working with the Star is Born icon. He spoke about originally not being able to connect with Gaga, saying:
I didn’t know Stefani at all. Strangely, I felt like I never even met her, even during the makeup/hair tests. Because again, maybe it was my philosophy of not trying to get in their space. And then I remember for a week, being like, god, I feel like we are disconnecting. Not even connecting. We are like on opposites. And I would say to my crew, ‘Jesus, I can’t, like, crack it. She either hates me or we hate each other. There’s something weird going on here.’
Well, this is interesting. Lady Gaga might take her acting projects seriously, but she doesn’t have a reputation for being cold. But Sher seemed to think that perhaps she didn’t like him due to their first interactions on the set of Joker 2. Although eventually this changed the more he learned about her process.
Later in that same interview, Lawrence Sher shared about the moment where he and Gaga were able to get on the same page. It turns out that she was going method to play Harley Quinn, and therefore wanted to be called “Lee” rather than Gaga or her given name Stefani. In his words:
I barely said anything, except I would say, ‘Stefani, this is where your second team was, minor little things,’ and then the AD at one point said, ‘Oh you know, Stef would like if you just called her Lee on set.’ And I was like, oh, 100 percent, and I literally said, the next thing I said, was something ‘Lee,’ and it was like everything changed. From that point on, it was like she was… our whole connection changed. I was like, alright, cool.
Method acting Gaga strikes again. Whether it's feeling drunk from prop drinks or journaling as House of Gucci's Patrizia Reggiani, Lady Gaga goes to great lengths to truly immerse herself as her characters. And she seemingly was just as serious or more when working on Joker: Folie à Deux.
Of course, Joker 2 is probably the right set for Gaga to go full method. Her co-star Joaquin Phoenix is also known for his extreme methods, especially when portraying Arthur Fleck in the first Joker movie. The “Poker Face” singer presumably met his energy, and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out on screen.
Not much is known about what Joker: Folie à Deux will include when it hits theaters. Zazie Beetz is returning as Sophie Dummond, and she actually refers to Lady Gaga as ‘just Stefani.’ We’ll just have to see what Phillips has up his sleeve, and how the musical numbers factor into the burgeoning franchise.
Joker: Folie à Deux is currently expected to arrive in theaters on October 4th, 2024. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
