Singing with Lady Gaga on the set of Joker: Folie à Deux was no joke for Joaquin Phoenix.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Wednesday (Sept. 25), director Todd Phillips revealed that the film’s star actor was “sick every day” with nerves about pulling off his vocal numbers alongside one of the most renowned modern singers. The pressure was especially on, considering Phoenix had to dive into shooting the Joker sequel’s musical numbers as soon as nine days into production — but luckily, Gaga was able to help him through it.
“The truth is, they gave each other pointers,” Phillips told the publication. “He’d give her pointers about acting; she’s been in movies, but he’s Joaquin Phoenix. She gave him tips about music because she’s Lady Gaga. It’s what movies should be: a giant collaboration.”
The filmmaker also shared that the 13-time Grammy winner’s notes to Phoenix were “a little more specific” and along the lines of, “You’re not hitting the note there.” “There’s less room for interpretation [with singing],” Phillips added.
Even so, Gaga has said before that she and Phoenix were aiming for less polished vocals to give their characters — Harley Quinn and Joker, respectively — more authenticity. “I’m a trained singer, right? So even my breathing was different when I sang as Lee,” she told Empire in July. “When I breathe to sing on stage, I have this very controlled way to make sure that I’m on pitch and it’s sustained at the right rhythm and amount of time, 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.”
The “Rain on Me” singer — who recently announced a companion album for the film, Harlequin — has also said that Folie à Deux isn’t necessarily a musical, despite featuring multiple elaborate song-and-dance numbers led by the film’s two stars. Phillips is on the same page, and while speaking to EW, he clarified that the distinction isn’t because he’s “afraid of the term ‘musical.’”
“Most of the times I’ve ever seen a musical, I walk out feeling better than I did when I walked in,” he said. “On this movie, I’m not sure it’s the same thing. I wouldn’t want to be misleading and say you’re going to be whistling the songs from this movie on the way to your car after you see it.”