The superstar channels her inner rebel as the complex Harleen “Lee” Quinzel in Joker: Folie à Deux.
If you did not know that Paul Dini and Bruce Timm created the comic book villainess Harley Quinn for a Batman television series in 1992, you could be forgiven for thinking that the character in the new film– a singer with an emerging dual identity who uses her artistry as an act of rebellion – was written for Lady Gaga.
There seems little doubt that in 2024 we are living through Peak Gaga. With five solo studio albums to her name, she was baptised a film icon-in-the-making in the appropriately titledSuch a seamless transition suggests the two disciplines – singer and actress – are not so distantly related. “They’re not exactly the same, but the idea at the core of acting and also being a musician, the process that you’re undergoing, is ultimately trying to get to the truth,” Gaga says.
In person, she is cool and elegant, dressed stylishly but with eclectic touches that heighten her individuality. In conversation, she speaks in complete thoughts – a rare gift, even for seasoned, professional actors – and with such candour that it’s difficult to discern anything performative in her replies. She is both authentic and unplugged.
“Any rehearsal that we did vocally also, in terms of the music, really depended on the moment,” Gaga adds. “For my character, I sing in a few different ways, depending on what’s happening and what we’re trying to say. So for some songs, I was more rehearsed and for others, I tried not to, so that it could come from a very different place.”
“Ever since I was a little girl, I experienced my freedom as a child through my imagination,” she adds. “I think I spent a lot of time building characters and being close to the art because it’s the thing that makes me feel alive, and it helps me to understand myself better – and I think it’s also the way that I communicate.”The album and the audience’s expectation of it fills her with gratitude, Gaga says.
As for the film itself, it is hectic and dark and chaotic. The musical sequences are stunning, though it seems a little askew to call it a musical, lest the audience confuse it for something made by Stephen Sondheim or Rodgers & Hammerstein. Its contradictory nature is the heart of its brilliance, Gaga says.“There’s sometimes a desire when you’re making something to make it all make sense, and you go, one plus one equals two, or these two colours make this colour,” she says.
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