Lady Gaga has shared her understanding of Joker: Folie à Deux‘s genre, saying it is not “actually a musical.”
The film, a follow-up to 2019’s Joker, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday, and its stars are doing the press rounds. Gaga plays Dr. Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, who goes on to become Harley Quinn. Joining her in press appearances are director Todd Phillips and lead actor Joaquin Phoenix, who reprised his role as Arthur Fleck, the criminal known as Joker, in the film.
The sequel reportedly features musical numbers, with its synopsis saying that Fleck, “now a patient at Arkham State Hospital, falls in love with music therapist Lee. As the duo experiences musical madness through their shared delusions, Arthur’s followers start a movement to liberate him.”
But Gaga said during a press panel at the film festival that she wouldn’t describe Joker: Folie à Deux as a musical.
“The way that we approached music in this film was very special and extremely nuanced. I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is actually a musical,” she said, adding, “The way that music is used is to really give the characters a way to express what they need to say because the scene and just dialogue was not enough.”
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Phoenix and Gaga sang live vocals during the filming of the movie, and the “Bad Romance” singer elaborated on the process during the press panel in Venice.
“The pianist that was on set with us was sort of like an actor off camera in the scene with us,” she said, adding, “For me it was a lot about kind of unlearning technique and forgetting how to breathe and allowing the song to completely come out of the character.”
The actor’s remarks have raised eyebrows on X, formerly Twitter, with one user writing, “So it’s … literally exactly the definition of a musical.”
“How is it different then?” another commented, while other users defended Gaga’s point of view.
“She was obviously comparing it to a traditional musical,” a user wrote, adding, “Barbie has musical numbers yet no one will label it as a musical.”
“Why’s everybody focusing too much on this part of the conference? There’s nothing wrong in what she said there, they’re both sick, mentally ill characters having delusions, who sing & dance inside their delusions as a way to escape reality. In real World nobody does it, only them,” a commenter wrote.
Phoenix previously opened up about getting the seal of approval from Gaga the first time she heard him sing.
“I do seem to remember her spitting up coffee the first time I sang, so that felt good, that was exciting, and made me feel confident,” he told Empire magazine in July. “Gaga was always very encouraging of just, ‘Go with what you feel, it’s fine.’ For somebody who’s not a performer in that way, it can be … uncomfortable to do that, but also very exciting.”
Joker: Folie à Deux is out in cinemas on October 4. The sequel also stars Zazie Beetz, Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener.
