‘Joker 2’ Director Says Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn Is Her ‘Own Interpretation’ Inspired by Charles Manson

Lady Gaga will grace the big screen in an unexpected manner for Todd Phillips’ musical sequel, “ Joker: Folie À Deux .”

The filmmaker revealed in an interview published Thursday that Gaga’s portrayal of fan-favorite comic book character Harley Quinn is completely her “own interpretation.”

“She became the way how [Charles] Manson had girls that idolized him. The way that sometimes these [imprisoned murderers] have people that look up to them,” Phillips told Empire Magazine. “There are things about Harley in the movie that were taken from the comic books, but we took it and molded it to the way we wanted it to be.”

The Oscar-nominated “A Star is Born” actress told the outlet that her portrayal of Joker’s psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum was “unlike anything [she had] ever done before.”

Gaga noted that she had to strip away her star power to fully embody Lee’s voice.

“For me, there’s plenty of bum notes, actually, from Lee,” she said, self-deprecating her own singing in the film. “I’m a trained singer, right? So even my breathing was different when I sang as Lee.”

The “Chromatica Ball” popstar said that she uses specific technique to achieve greatness as her on-stage Gaga persona, but “Lee would never know how to do any of that. So it’s like removing the technicality of the whole thing, removing my perceived art-form from it all and completely being inside of who she is.”

“Joker 2” aims to blend the story of Arthur Fleck’s transformation into the Joker with the the origin story of Harley Quinn, first written in the 1994 Batman comic “Mad Love.” Dr. Harleen Quinzel, played by Gaga, attempts to learn more about the Joker for a series of tell-all crime books, but ultimately falls in love with him and becomes his sidekick.

Joaquin Phoenix will return as the Gotham villain, and the comic book sequel will compete for the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice International Film Festival .

The “Born This Way” singer released her HBO Original concert special “Gaga Chromatica Ball” in May of this year. Her last acting performance was in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” in 2021.

Read the full exclusive at Empire Magazine .

The post ‘Joker 2’ Director Says Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn Is Her ‘Own Interpretation’ Inspired by Charles Manson appeared first on TheWrap .