Joaquin Phoenix reveals how Lady Gaga 'unlocked' Harley Quinn's voice

Joaquin Phoenix gave Lady Gaga a special challenge while filming one of their scenes in upcoming Joker sequel.

The 38-year-old singer, who has earned 13 Grammy Awards for her singing, was urged by her Joker: Folie à Deux costar to use a different approach to play the role of Harley Quinn.

In a recent cover story of Vogue, Phoenix talked about one of their singing scene in which Gaga told him to “sing live”.

Then Phoenix cheered the pop singer to croon without the aid of any musical effect, he said of Gaga, “And I encouraged her to sing poorly, I remember asking her to sing without her vibrato.”

Phoenix further gushed over the Shallow hitmaker’s voice saying, “She has a beautiful vibrato—too beautiful. I think she felt naked without it.”

And in this way, Gaga discovered a unique voice for her character in Joker 2.

“But as soon as she moved away from technique she unlocked her character’s voice,” Phoenix continued.

"I worked really hard on that, kind of trying to undo all my technique," Gaga told the publisher.

It is pertinent to mention that Joker: Folie à Deux premiered in September at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival and hits theater on October 2.