Lady Gaga preferred to be referred to as “Lee” on the set of Joker: Folie à Deux.
During an interview on The Trenches Talk podcast, the cinematographer for the Joker films, Lawrence Sher, revealed that the singer/actress didn’t want to go by her stage name or her birth name, Stefani Germanotta, on the set of the film.
The cinematographer stated that the A Star is Born actress, who is known for her unique acting methods, preferred to go by the name Lee, which is presumably a nod to her character Harley Quinn.
“I didn’t know Stefani at all,” Lawrence said of the hitmaker, 37. “Strangely, I felt like I never even met her, even during the makeup/hair tests.”
He continued, “I remember for like a week being like, ‘God I feel like we were disconnecting, not even connecting. We’re like on opposites.’ And I would say to my crew like, ‘Jesus I can’t crack it. I feel like she either hates me or we hate each other or there’s something weird going on here.'”
The Oscar-nominated director of photography noted that he had been calling the star Stefani until he had been advised that she would prefer to go by another name.
“Then the AD (assistant director) at one point said, ‘Oh, you know Stef would like if you just called her Lee on set.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, 100%.’ And then I literally said like the next thing I said was something Lee, and it was like everything changes,” he recalled. “From that point on it was like she was… our whole connection changed. I was like, alright, cool.”
The details for the upcoming film, directed by Todd Phillips, have not yet been revealed, however, it has been described as a drama with musical elements set in and around Arkham Asylum.
Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, is scheduled to hit cinemas on 4 October 2024.