Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix sang live on the set of Joker: Folie à Deux — not just because they’re staunch professionals, but also because they wanted their performances to feel as raw and unpredictable as their characters are.
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In a new interview with Variety published Tuesday (Aug. 20), the pair — who play Harley Quinn and Arthur Fleck, respectively — opened up about the challenges of using live vocals during filming. A pianist was on site to provide accompaniment off camera, after which their takes were spliced together and occasionally rerecorded in studio as needed.
“We didn’t want vibrato and perfect notes,” Phoenix explained, adding that he and the pop star wanted to “let the emotion guide” their performances to stay “true to the moment.”
“We asked ourselves, ‘What would need to be true for two people to just break into song in the middle of a conversation?’” Gaga added. “’Where does the music come from when no one can hear it but the characters?’ Neither Arthur nor [Harley] are professional singers and they shouldn’t sound like they are … We wanted to help tell the story of their shared madness in a way that felt real.”
“I think we all have an intimate and personal relationship with music in that there’s a score for our inner emotional lives,” she continued to Variety . “A score that no one can usually hear but us. That’s what we tried to capture for Arthur and Lee — the music inside them.”
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The interview comes about a month and a half ahead of the Joker sequel’s theatrical release on Oct. 4. The film’s first full-length trailer dropped in July, promising a darkly chaotic storyline that finds Fleck and Quinn meeting in a psychiatric hospital and embarking on a joint musical journey as the former awaits trial for his crimes as Joker.
In another recent Q&A about the project, Phoenix revealed that Gaga — despite being a 13-time Grammy winner and vocal powerhouse in her own right — was quite supportive of his singing capabilities while working on the film. “I do seem to remember her spitting up coffee the first time I sang, so that felt good, that was exciting, and made me feel confident,” he told Empire in July. “Gaga was always very encouraging of just, ‘Go with what you feel, it’s fine.’ For somebody who’s not a performer in that way, it can be … uncomfortable to do that, but also very exciting.”
In addition to Folie à Deux , the “Applause” musician is also gearing up to release her seventh studio album, which she’s been teasing for weeks. While in Paris to perform at the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony in July, she even played a couple snippets of the record for fans gathered outside her hotel.
In the meantime, listeners can enjoy the A Star Is Born actress’ new standalone single with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” which dropped Aug. 16. The pair also teamed up for a Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner-esque music video to accompany the cinematic ballad, which dropped on the same day as the song.
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