When Lady Gaga met Joaquin Phoenix

Iconic vocalist Lady Gaga reportedly “spat out her coffee” the first time she heard Joaquin Phoenix sing on the set of their new film, Joker: Folie à Deux.

Luckily, he considered her reaction a positive one, as he was already nervous!

Phoenix had won an Oscar for his earlier portrayal of the evil Joker – alias failed Gotham City comedian Arthur Fleck – in the 2019 DC Comics film. However, even an award-winner is allowed to feel worried about singing for megastar Gaga.

© Fred Duval / Shutterstock.com 

The second Joker film in the Warner Bros franchise is described as a “musical psychological thriller” which requires the warped title character to burst into song, using music as a storytelling tool. Phoenix needn’t have worried about Lady Gaga’s reaction, as she supported him from the start.

The two actors became friends on the set and even rewrote scenes together before shooting until they agreed it felt right, often having a quick meeting in Phoenix’s trailer to give the script a tweak if they weren’t happy.

When it came to singing, making a musical film with Lady Gaga was something he found “uncomfortable and exciting” at the same time. He appreciated the importance of getting it right, as director Todd Phillips wanted to bring out the warped character’s musical side.

Although Phoenix had been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role as country singer Johnny Cash in the 2005 biographical film, Walk the Line, standing up and singing solo in front of Lady Gaga was a more daunting experience.

Joker: Folie à Deux is interesting for another reason, as multi-award winner Gaga had to learn how to sing very badly in character as Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, alias Harley Quinn. This was a challenge in itself for a vocalist with a soaring mezzo soprano range, who’s considered one of the best in the business today.

A Star is Born – Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s singing prowess had been ably demonstrated in her previous film A Star is Born, for which she received positive reviews for her portrayal of Ally, whose popularity soon overshadows the career of her mentor and lover, Jack. For her soundtrack and acting contributions to A Star is Born, Gaga was the first female in history to win Grammy, Academy, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards in one year.

Starring as Harley Quinn has been a challenge, as she’s had to  unlearn all the vocal techniques that have made her a global star, making her voice sound ordinary and even poor to fulfil the role.

Joaquin Phoenix new film

When Lady Gaga met Joaquin Phoenix on the set of the new Joker film, it’s hard to believe the artist, who’s been playing piano since age four, would receive technique tips from an actor best known for his non-singing roles. However, this is exactly what’s happened, with the two stars giving each other advice on how best to portray their character.

Phoenix overcame intense nerves to sing in front of his co-star, telling Empire magazine, “I seem to remember her spitting up coffee the first time I sang, so that felt good; it was exciting and made me feel confident.”

He also revealed Gaga was “always very encouraging”, advising him to “go with what you feel”. Phoenix said it felt “uncomfortable to do that, but also very exciting” for someone who wasn’t normally a singer.

In the same way, he offered Lady Gaga tips on making her singing voice “a bit off”, according to a feature in Billboard magazine. She explained, “I worked on the way that I sang to come from Lee and not me as a performer.”

Lady Gaga acting roles

As a teenager, Gaga divided her time between acting in school plays and singing at open mic nights, before choosing to pursue a musical career. Although better known for singing, Joker: Folie à Deux is actually her fifth film.

Her first was the 2013 American action adventure, Machete Kills, starring Cuba Gooding Jr, Danny Trejo and Antonio Banderas. She played the supporting role of La Camaleón, as the US President recruited agents to stop an arms deal between corrupt military personnel and a drugs cartel.

She later won awards for starring as a vampire countess in the mini-series, American Horror Story: Hotel between 2015 and 2016. The role of Ally in A Star is Born was the first film to showcase her singing talents.

This was followed by the crime drama, House of Gucci, in 2021, charting the life and times of the famous family, in which she played Patrizia Reggiani, an Italian socialite convicted of hiring a hitman to kill her former husband.

The Joker film was the first time Gaga’s character was required to sing, but to give a poor performance with lots of off-key notes.

Harley Quinn and Joker

Harley Quinn meets Arthur Fleck, alias Joker, when they are both mentally ill patients at Arkham State Hospital. She becomes obsessed with him and they enter into a warped romantic relationship.

Director Todd Phillips describes their relationship in the film by asking viewers, “What if the most annoying man you know got an equally annoying girlfriend and they sang show tunes to each other?”

Gaga had to explore singing techniques that were completely alien to her. In an interview with Billboard, she said, “There are plenty of bum notes, actually from Lee.” Gaga and Phoenix became good friends as they rehearsed.

Phoenix felt her vocal style was “too beautiful” for the role of Harley Quinn, who was required to sound “like someone singing in the shower”. He suggested she should sing without her well-trained vibrato, adding the star “felt naked without it” at first, but once she unlearned the technique, it “unlocked her character’s voice”.

As well as giving each other singing lessons, the two actors used Phoenix’s trailer as a meeting room to rewrite their scenes together. Sometimes, they couldn’t agree right away what worked. In an interview, Gaga said she would sometimes think “this scene works”, but Phoenix would disagree, suggesting, “Let’s just have a quick meeting about it.” Their impromptu team meeting would often overrun, with Gaga joking, “Three hours later and you’re rewriting it on a napkin!”

Critics have described the film as a “sparkly, razzle-dazzle version” of the lead characters’ traumatic lives, praising Gaga’s “committed, crackling performance” and Phoenix’s ability to make Joker sound like a “discordant bird warbling through his numbers”, with their duets likened to a “chaotic Sonny and Cher”.

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