That the world is still talking about Joker: Folie à Deux is a testament to our collective disappointment. Sure, some people enjoyed Todd Phillips’ brash sequel to his dark and gritty DC film, but for the most part the reviews and box office for the sequel vastly underperformed expectations. That was rough for fans, but you’d have to think it was even rougher for the people who made the movie and thought they were doing something special.
One of those people is Lady Gaga, the mega-superstar musician who drew on her acting talents to play Arthur Fleck’s (Joaquin Phoenix) love interest, Harley Quinn. Gaga is famous enough that she doesn’t do a ton of interviews, so it’s taken a few months for one to come up and for her to reflect back on the reception to the film. And, as one may expect, she’s completely at peace with it.
“People just sometimes don’t like some things,” Gaga said in a new interview with Elle Magazine. “It’s that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended… When [fear of failure] makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem.”
“Mayhem” is a good word for this situation. Not just in the context Gaga is using it in—that artists need to have a thick skin and take chances—but also just the Joker 2 ride in general. After the surprise success of the original film, which made over a billion dollars and saw Phoenix win the Oscar for Best Actor, Phillips and Phoenix were hounded about doing a sequel. Then, finally, they caved. Anticipation grew as production ramped up, Gaga’s casting only added to that, and the first trailers made everyone incredibly excited. Then, of course, people saw it and their reactions were not good. Buzz quickly subsided, box office followed, and now it’s buried on Max to watch at anytime. It was quite the ride.
What do you think about Gaga’s thoughts here though? Is failure a given with art? Do you consider Joker 2 that? Let us know below.
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