Joaquin Phoenix wasn’t born that way to be a singer, but thanks to Lady Gaga, he can hit a note in “Joker: Folie á Deux.”
The sequel film, which features musical sequences, stars Phoenix as Arthur Fleck AKA the Joker, who is now being treated by psychiatrist Harley Quinn at Arkham Asylum.
Phoenix told Empire magazine that Gaga coached him on his vocal chops during production.
“I do seem to remember her spitting up coffee the first time I sang, so that felt good, that was exciting, and made me feel confident,” Phoenix said. “Gaga was always very encouraging of just, ‘Go with what you feel, it’s fine.’”
He continued, “For somebody who’s not a performer in that way, it can be…uncomfortable to do that, but also very exciting.”
Phoenix described his character Arthur’s singing voice as being purposefully unpolished.
“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.”
Phoenix’s Grammy-winning co-star Gaga similarly echoed the “bum notes” emphasis to the outlet.
“For me, there’s plenty of bum notes, actually, from Lee,” Gaga said. “I’m a trained singer, right? So even my breathing was different when I sang as Lee. 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.”
Gaga actually will unveil a totally different kind of singing voice in the film, as she teased.
“People know me by my stage name, Lady Gaga, right? That’s me as that performer, but that is not what this movie is; I’m playing a character,” Gaga said. “So I worked a lot on the way that I sang to come from Lee, and to not come from me as a performer.”
