Lady Gaga will “blow your mind” in ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’, says casting director
Lady Gaga is set to “blow your mind” in her role as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux, according to the film’s casting director.
The actor and singer is set to star in the film alongside Joaquin Phoenix, who will resume his complex portrayal of the iconic titular DC villain, a role that earned him the Oscar for Best Actor for the first film.
Gaga will play Harley Quinn, Arthur Fleck/Joker’s lover and sidekick, and the film’s casting director Francine Maisler has said that she is “really surprised” that Gaga was able to keep pace with Phoenix during the shooting of the film.
Speaking at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, Maisley said (via Deadline): “She’s so good in it, you guys. She’s going to blow your mind.”
“I didn’t suggest Lady Gaga. It wasn’t my idea. That was Todd Phillips, before me,” she added, referring to the film’s director. “But I will tell you, she’s really surprising — and really good. I saw it and I was really surprised.”
“I mean, we all knew what she could do in A Star is Born, but I thought, ‘Oh, well, that’s kind of in her wheelhouse.’ Something she could do and just be real. But this… Man, she’s good. Joaquin blows your mind, but that she could keep up with him, and be real — and not just wiped off the screen by what that role is and what the performance is — shows she’s good.”
The first trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux dropped in April, which you can watch above, while below is the second trailer, which shows Gaga’s Harley Quinn more closely.
The film, which will be released on October 4, on the fifth anniversary of the first film, has been described as “mostly a jukebox musical” by sources familiar with the filming.
It is thought it will include at least 15 “very well-known” songs, with one being named as ‘That’s Entertainment’, known for the 1953 Judy Garland music The Band Wagon.
The report continues that there may still be an opening for a couple of original songs on the film’s soundtrack too.
The film is also set to star Steve Coogan, Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz, as well as Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich) and Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin).
Last September, Hildur Guðnadóttir – who worked as the composer of the first film’s score and returns for the sequel – also teased that the sequel will feature “a lot of music”. “That’s all I can give away,” she added.
Gaga previously shared a preview of herself in the iconic role in April last year, as filming came to a close. “That’s a wrap X Harleen,” the singer and actor wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of her in a black dress and smudged black eye make-up.
She has also said that the music she is currently working on explores the “art of intensity” and is “nothing like anything I’ve ever made before”.
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Max Pilley
NME
