Joaquin Phoenix has revealed what his Joker: Folie à Deux co-star Lady Gaga's reaction was upon hearing his singing for the first time.
The DC movie sequel is more of a musical, with Phoenix's Arthur Fleck and Gaga's Harley Quinn finding a connection through their shared love of classic songs.
Arthur, like his actor, is not a professional singer, and Phoenix explained to Empire that his ropey singing was essential to the character but recalled Gaga having quite a strong response when she first heard him. Thankfully, he didn't mind.
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"It was important to protect that with poor phrasing and occasional bum notes," he said. "Arthur grew up hearing his mother play these songs on the radio. He’s not a singer, and he shouldn’t sound like a professional singer. He should sound like somebody that’s taking a shower and just bursts out into song.
"I do seem to remember [Gaga] spitting up coffee the first time I sang, so that felt good, that was exciting and made me feel confident.
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"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".
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In the same interview, director Todd Phillips told fans not to expect this version of the Joker to become a crime boss supervillain like in other universes, stating: "We would never do that. 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."
Folie à Deux is scheduled for a cinema release date of October 4. Joker is available to buy on Blu-ray or streaming now.
Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
