Joaquin Phoenix had one note for Lady Gaga while shooting “Joker: Folie à Deux”: sing worse.
While talking with Vogue, Gaga spoke about learning to sing like she didn’t have a voice like hers while playing the film’s take on Harley Quinn. Phoenix agreed.
“I encouraged her to sing poorly,” he said. “I remember asking her to sing without her vibrato. She has a beautiful vibrato — too beautiful. I think she felt naked without it. But as soon as she moved away from technique she unlocked her character’s voice.”
Lady Gaga agreed that she had to flip a switch to not put on a performance like she was playing someone who makes music for a living.
“I worked really hard on that, kind of trying to undo all my technique. I mean, Ally Maine in “A Star Is Born” is a singer and it’s a movie about people who make music,” she said. “That is not what this film is about at all.”
Reviews for the “Joker” sequel have been mixed, but all agree that Lady Gaga delivers a solid performance whenever she’s onscreen.
TheWrap reviewer William Bibbiani wrote that the film felt “genuinely genuine” at times.
“What’s most impressive about ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ is the way Phillips willingly undercuts his own billion-dollar blockbuster,” Bibbiani wrote. “He’s looking inward. Arthur is looking inward. Hopefully the audience will too, and question why they care so much about Arthur Fleck in the first place. Do we really love Arthur or do we just love how his story, itself a glorified TV melodrama about a sad person committing sad crimes for the sake of a sad rubbernecking audience, makes us feel about ourselves?”
He continued, “‘Folie à Deux’ is the most interesting film about Arthur Fleck. It’s genuinely a little daring, genuinely a little challenging, and genuinely a little genuine. And that’s no joke.”
“Joker: Folie à a Deux” hits theaters on Oct. 4.
