Lady Gaga Says Her Take on Harley Quinn Came From Her “Experience With Mania and Chaos Inside”
Lady Gaga is getting candid about her take on Harley Quinn and how her personal experiences played into her version of the infamous comic book character in Joker: Folie à Deux.
The Grammy-winning artist sat down with Vogue for its October cover, ahead of the release of Todd Phillips’ upcoming film in which she stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix, who portrays Joker/Arthur Fleck. During the conversation, she revealed how her portrayal of the character was personal.
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“Harley Quinn is a character people know from the ether of pop culture,” she told the publication. “I had a different experience creating her, namely my experience with mania and chaos inside — for me, it creates a quietness. Sometimes women are labeled as these overly emotional creatures and when we are overwhelmed we are erratic or unhinged. But I wonder if when things become so broken from reality, when we get pushed too far in life, what if it makes you…quiet?”
She continued, “I would say that I worked from a sense-memory perspective: What does it feel like to walk through the world and be…braced, in an intense way? And what happens when you cover up all of the complexities beneath the surface?”
The Oscar winner also opened up about her relationship with fiancé Michael Polansky, with whom she attended the Venice Film Festival earlier this week for the Joker: Folie à Deux world premiere. She revealed her mom met him first and was pretty sure her daughter would marry him one day.
Gaga reflected on the early days of their relationship, which began shortly before COVID-19 happened and locked the country down. They quarantined together for well over a year amid the pandemic, which she felt was “really kind of special.” It gave her a chance to take a break from her career and fully focus on her relationship.
“It was very painful to see how deeply [the pandemic] affected the world,” she said. “Not only how sick people got, so many people died, but also so many people were alone. I feel very grateful that I wasn’t alone. I had never met anyone like Michael. He’s so smart and so kind. And his life and my life are very different. He’s a very private guy, and he’s not with me for any other reason than that we are right for each other.”
She explained that she wants her fans to know how happy and healthy she is at this point in her life because the last time they heard from her was around the release of Chromatica, which was “an absolutely horrible time” for her.
“I was in a really dark place,” the A Star Is Born Oscar nominee said. “I struggled for, like, many years before that. But everything started to change. Because I had a real friend who saw the ways in which I was unhappy and why. And he wasn’t afraid to truly hold my hand. And get to know me. On a very deep level.”
In addition to Joker: Folie à Deux, Gaga recently dropped a song with Bruno Mars called “Die With a Smile” and has a new album coming up, which is being referred to simply as LG7 at the moment. It is set to be released in full in February, but the artist revealed that she would be dropping a single from the pop album in October. She also has a secret music project in the works.
Elsewhere in the profile, Gaga took a moment to praise other singers and songwriters creating music right now, including Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish and Kesha.
“I mean, I really love them. I go on the internet and, like, cry. … I watch it all, and I’m like: Yup. Go! Just Go,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m not only cheering them on, I want them to know that my heart is in it with them. And I want them all to feel really happy.”
Joker: Folie à Deux is set to hit theaters on Oct. 4.
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