‘Joker 2’ cinematographer ‘never even met’ the real Lady Gaga on set, called her ‘Lee’ while filming

Lady Gaga performs during the shooting of the movie “Joker: Folie à Deux” in New York on March 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Lawrence Sher, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer for Joker, recently shared on “The Trenches Talk” podcast that he “never even met” Lady Gaga during the filming of the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, reported Indiewire. It appears that Lady Gaga remained in character as Harley Quinn throughout the entire production, opposite Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as the Joker in this 2024 comic book movie. Sher mentioned that it was only when he started addressing her as “Lee,” presumably a reference to her character Harley, that she began to open up and interact with him.

“I didn’t know Stefani at all,” Sher said referring to Gaga’s real name, Stefani Germanotta. “Strangely, I felt like I never even met her, even during the makeup/hair tests. Maybe it was my philosophy of not trying to get in their space. And then I remember for a week, being like, ‘God, I feel like we are disconnecting. Not even connecting. We are like on opposites.’ And I would say to my crew, ‘Jesus, I can’t crack it. She either hates me or we hate each other. There’s something weird going on here.’”

“I didn’t know Stefani at all,” Sher said referring to Gaga’s real name, Stefani Germanotta. “Strangely, I felt like I never even met her, even during the makeup/hair tests. Maybe it was my philosophy of not trying to get in their space. And then I remember for a week, being like, ‘God, I feel like we are disconnecting. Not even connecting. We are like on opposites.’ And I would say to my crew, ‘Jesus, I can’t crack it. She either hates me or we hate each other. There’s something weird going on here.’”

“I barely said anything, except I would say, ‘Stefani, this is where your second team was,’ minor little things, and then the AD at one point said, ‘Oh you know, Stef would like if you just called her Lee on set,’” Sher continued, “And I was like, 100 percent. The next thing I said was something ‘Lee,’ and it was like everything changed. From that point on, it was like she was…our whole connection changed. I was like, alright, cool.”

Joker: Folie à Deux is set to release on October 4, 2024.