Global pop star and Oscar-nominated actress Lady Gaga made her jump to movies when she had minor roles in a couple of Robert Rodriguez’s films in the early 2010s. Nevertheless, the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born put her in the spotlight as a popular musician who could also act at a high level. Unfortunately, the singer didn’t have the same luck with her following film projects. 2024 saw her play a variation of the DC character Harley Quinn in the Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, in a performance that wasn’t as criticized as the rest of the film. One year after the critical failure that was Joker 2, Gaga reveals that, at first, it was funny, but then the strong backlash against the movie became “painful.”
The actor/singer recently spoke to Rolling Stone in a cover story that takes readers on an extensive journey through her music and film credits. Although she has been good in the few films she has made, Gaga doesn’t seem to have had a great time. The actor says she did A Star Is Born “on lithium.” Of House of Gucci, she says, “I don’t think I was doing very well during that film at all.” Joker 2 seems to be the one she enjoyed the most: “There was a ton of negativity around Joker. And I think I was feeling artistically rebellious at the time.”
The Negative Reception Toward ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Became “Painful”
Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn from Joker 2Warner Bros. Pictures
Joker: Folie à Deux premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2024. The reaction was a long standing ovation that made everyone proud of the film, including Lady Gaga, who was instantly praised as somewhat indispensable in the movie that had one too many shades of a musical. And then, one month later, Joker 2 premiered in theaters and everything changed.
The audience reaction was not great. Though the film had a decent box office performance, viewers didn’t connect with director Todd Phillips’ approach. The film’s tone and narrative were very different from the 2019 original, and critics also reacted negatively to it. Today, it sits at 31% on both the critics’ and audience scores.
During the Rolling Stone interview, the actor/singer reflected on the movie’s backlash, one that got worse as more people went to see the film, and Warner Bros. could not do any sort of damage control. The first film earned 11 nominations at the Academy Awards (winning Best Actor and Best Original Score), but Joker: Folie à Deux wasn’t included in any of the nomination ballots. Instead, it got several nominations at the infamous Razzies. This is what Lady Gaga had to say about the negative reaction to the film:
“I wasn’t, like, unfazed. It’s funny, I’m almost nervous to share my reaction. But the truth is, when it first started happening, I started laughing. Because it was just getting so unhinged.
“When it takes a while for something to kind of dissipate, that can be a little bit more painful. Only because I put a lot of myself into it.”
Release Date
October 4, 2024
Runtime
138 minutes
Writers
Scott Silver, Todd Phillips, Paul Dini, Jerry Robinson, Bruce Timm, Bob Kane, Bill Finger
Producers
Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Prequel(s)
Joker
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