Twin Cities film critic Paul McGuire Grimes sits down with Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix, the stars of “Joker: Folie À Deux”. The film is the sequel to Director Todd Phillips’ “Joker” released in 2019.

Phoenix plays Joker while Gaga plays Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, Joker’s traditional love interest. Gaga joins the countless number of actresses who have voiced Harley Quinn including Margot Robbie who was the first to bring her to live action.

For more of Paul McQuire Grimes’ conversation with the two actors you can check out his website here.

Both Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix sing in the sequel something Gaga has made her career out of, but in this film she had a different approach.

When asked about how singing in this style changed her as a performer, Lady Gaga said, “You know, it like opened me up. It really did. I try always to bring authenticity onto stage with me when I’m performing and be as truthful as possible, but there is a showmanship sometimes to what I do that would never make sense for my character. But she has her own brand of showmanship.”

Phoenix mentioned what it was like to sing with Gaga saying, “She has a way of explaining kind of the process, and she talks about music and what it means to her in a way that is really intimate and interesting. And so immediately, I think Todd both felt like, ‘Okay, this is like right, this is the match for Arthur,’ and the way that she talked about the character and how she wanted to communicate with him. So it was, we were very lucky to have her.”