Joker 2: Lady Gaga gets into method acting, insists on being addressed as 'Lee', short for Harley Quinn

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Lady Gaga is completely engrossed and immersed in her role of ‘Lee’ on the sets of Joker: Folie à Deux, says her cinematographer. Lady Gaga, whose birth name is Stefani Germanotta, plays the character of Harley Quinn in the sequel to Joker. Gaga acts opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Joker 2, and her character has a toxic relationship with the Joker.

Cinematographer Lawrence Sher, who has worked on both Joker movies, talked about Lady Gaga in the film during his interview with ‘The Trenches Talk’ podcast. She said that on the movie sets, he didn’t remember Lady Gaga / Stefani, because she was always in character. «I didn't know Stefani at all and, strangely, I felt like I never really met her even during the makeup/hair test,» he said.

It got to the point that he thought he is not connecting with her on set because maybe they are on opposites. He thought she «either hates» him or «we hate each other or there's something weird going on here». The two barely talked.

It was when an assistant director told the cinematographer to address Lady Gaga as ‘Lee’, short for Harley, that he understood what was happening. «And then literally the next thing I said was something 'Lee,' and it was like everything changed,» revealed Sher. «From that point on it was like her whole connection changed and I was like, 'Well, alright, cool.' That's all I needed to know and that changed everything.» She went on to reveal that Joaquin Phoenix also stayed in character as the Joker in the first movie.

«With him, I remember early on, he was like 100% in character all the time, and day two, he quietly came to me and he said, 'I'm sorry for being whatever, like weird. I just need to stay,'» Sher reminisced. Sher told Phoenix to “stop apologizing” and “just