When Lady Gaga was first confirmed to play Harley Quinn in Joker 2, it was natural to have a lot of questions when its first teaser showed artwork of the Grammy winner and Joaquin Phoenix dancing to Frank Sinatra’s “Cheek to Cheek.” After all, would we get a fun, maniacal Harley Quinn like we’ve seen in movies featuring the DC antihero or something totally different? The Joker: Folie à Deux actress answers the question by celebrating the “complex female character” she brought to the big screen in her third film role.
Joker 2 takes place two years after the first Todd Phillips movie where Arthur Fleck meets and falls in love with musical therapist Lee who shares his insanity. But even though these two characters transform themselves towards the path of Joker and Harley Quinn, all original stories delve into the complexities of how they came to be these famed characters. While rocking out in a Harley Quinn-inspired gown and makeup during the premiere of the musical thriller, Lady Gaga spoke (via Getty) about celebrating “complex female characters” while hyping up her own for the Joker sequel:
I celebrate females in every way that I can, and complex female characters are beautiful. but I wanted to make [Lee Quinzel] entirely my own and special to this film. It was so important to me that Lee felt very real. And I wanted, when women came to the theater, for them to hopefully see some of themselves in her, even if she was being a little unpredictable.
Based on Lady Gaga’s claims, it looks like we’re gonna get a Harley Quinn different than anything we’ve ever seen before. Maybe we’ll learn more about her own backstory that brought her to Arkham State Hospital and why she shares Arthur Fleck’s passion for anarchy.
Based on what we’ve seen in the Joker 2 trailer, I already see a difference in Joker’s right-hand woman than any other time we’ve seen her in movies and TV shows. The musical numbers she shares with Joaquin Phoenix aren’t something typically shown in a DC project. Not to mention, the darkness shown in the character seems to be more psychological and complex compared to being all in-your-face. Just like we got to know why Arthur Fleck turned to violence in the first Joker movie, I have a feeling the same will be said with Lee on her reasoning for sticking with a mental patient focused on wreaking havoc.
Harley Quinn wouldn’t be the first “complex” character that Lady Gaga has played. In fact, none of the characters she’s portrayed have black-and-white personas. In her film debut A Star is Born, you can tell through each story-building song sung in the movie that Ally is lost during her journey into music. She wants to write songs that mean something to her, but also wants to wow the crowd in the process even if that means losing sense of her true self. Not to mention her complicated relationship with alcoholic singer Jackson Maine.
In House of Gucci, the triple-threat performer is a mix of both hero and villain who’s an outsider motivated by dreams of love and success only to descend to her lowest point orchestrating her husband’s murder. The role was so dark for the American singer/actress that she felt the need to protect her mental health by meeting with a psychiatric nurse during the end of filming. With each complex role, Lady Gaga wows critics and audiences. I wouldn’t be surprised if Joker 2 gave her another Oscar nomination. You can watch the video in full below:
Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn role in Joker: Folie à Deux is the perfect role to celebrate “complex female characters” by allowing audiences to delve into the mind of a famous DC character differently than ever before. With each song and dance number she and Arthur Fleck share, I’m confident we’ll get to know just how complex these two characters are compared to their previous counterparts. The 2024 movie release of Joker 2 hits theaters on October 4th.
