Todd Phillips Says Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn Is Partially Inspired by Charles Manson

Todd Phillips is further teasing Lady Gaga’s transformation into Harley Quinn — and this time, it’s with a real-life killer twist.

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Phillips told Empire magazine that Gaga’s portrayal of the iconic character is akin to Charles Manson with the iconography. Gaga stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Phillips’ “Joker: Folie á Deux,” the sequel to the Oscar-winning 2019 “Batman” prequel “Joker.”

“While there are some things that people would find familiar in her, it’s really Gaga’s own interpretation, and Scott [Silver, co-writer] and I’s interpretation,” Phillips said. “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. 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 director later added to the outlet that, in a subversive way, Phoenix’s Joker will “never” be the Manson-esque cult figure in his films, despite the character ruling Gotham in the “Batman” franchise across decades.

“We would never do that,” Phillips said, “because Arthur clearly is not a criminal mastermind. He was never that. Arthur has become this symbol to people. This unwilling, unwitting symbol now paying for the crimes of the first film, but at the same time finding the only thing he ever wanted, which was love. That’s always what he’s been about, even though he’s been pushed and pulled in all these directions. So we tried to just make the most pure version of that.”

“Joker: Folie á Deux” casting director Francine Maisler admitted during the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival that Gaga was a surprise casting choice , one that Phillips was determined to make.

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“I didn’t suggest Lady Gaga. It wasn’t my idea. That was [director] Todd Phillips, before me,” Maisler said. “But I will tell you, she’s really surprising and really good. […] She’s going to blow your mind.”

Gaga previously told Access Hollywood that her take on Quinn is distinct to the film.

“You know my version of Harley is mine and it’s very authentic to this movie and these characters,” Gaga said. “I’ve never done anything like I’ve done in this movie before, so it’s all going to be completely brand new and really fun.”

Margot Robbie brought Harley to life first in “Suicide Squad,” followed by spinoff “Birds of Prey” and quasi-reboot “The Suicide Squad.” Robbie publicly praised Gaga’s casting as Quinn, telling MTV News in 2022 that hopefully more iterations of the character are brought to the big screen.

“It makes me so happy because I said from the very beginning that all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters — the way Macbeth or Batman, always gets passed from great actor to great actor,” Robbie said. “Someone gets to do their Batman, or someone gets to do their Macbeth. It’s such an honor to have built a foundation strong enough that Harley can now be one of those characters that other actors get to have a go at playing. And I think [Gaga] will do something incredible with it.”