Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix team up in ‘Joker: Folie À Deux,’ a musical follow-up to the first Oscar-winning movie.
Joaquin Phoenix amazed his ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’ costar Lady Gaga with his singing skills.
In a recent interview with Empire, Joaquin, who plays the Joker/Arthur Fleck in the musical sequel, shared that she was so surprised she spit out her coffee when he first sang for Gaga. He said, “It felt great and gave me confidence.”
Advertisement Phoenix added that Gaga always encouraged him by saying, “Just go with what you feel, it’s fine.” He explained that, since he’s not a performer like her, it can be a bit uncomfortable to do that, but it’s also very exciting. Gaga plays Lee/Harley Quinn in the film.
‘Joker: Folie À Deux’ is the follow-up to the 2019 movie ‘Joker,’ also starring Phoenix. The official description says, “Arthur Fleck, now in Arkham, waits for his trial as the Joker. While dealing with his split personality, he discovers true love and the music inside him.”
In the movie, music is important in Arthur and Lee’s growing relationship. Phoenix said, “I felt it was important to keep it real with imperfect words and some off-key notes.”
“Arthur grew up listening to his mom play these songs on the radio. He’s not supposed to sound like a professional singer. He should sound like someone singing in the shower.”
Phoenix explained.
In an earlier interview with Empire, Gaga talked about the biggest challenge of her role.
“People know me as Lady Gaga, right? That’s me as a performer, but this movie is different. I’m playing a character, so I worked hard to make my singing come from Lee, not from me as Lady Gaga.”
Gaga said.
“It was unlike anything I’ve done before,” she said. “I’m a trained singer, right? So even my breathing was different when I sang as Lee.”
Director Todd Phillips told Empire that Phoenix’s version of the Joker in ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’ will continue to differ from other character versions.
Phillips said, “Arthur isn’t a criminal mastermind. He’s never been that. Arthur has become a symbol for people to pay attention to what happened in the first film. But he’s also finding the one thing he always wanted—love. Even though he’s been pushed around, that’s what he’s after. We aimed to show the purest version of that.”
‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ will come to theatres on October 4, 2024. Before then, you can watch all the Joker movies in order and keep an eye out for more exciting news about the upcoming film.
Source: People