Major grain of salt.
Taking the stage for a Karlovy Vary Talk, casting director Francine Maisler seemed especially excited to talk about Lady Gaga’s work in Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie À Deux”,” having recently seen a cut of the heavily anticipated DC sequel:
“She’s so good in it” said Maisler. “She’s going to blow your mind. I didn’t suggest Lady Gaga. It wasn’t my idea. That was Todd Phillips, before me. But I will tell you, she’s really surprising — and really good. I saw it and I was really surprised. I mean, we all knew what she could do in A Star is Born, but I thought, ‘Oh, well, that’s kind of in her wheelhouse.’ Something she could do and just be real. But this… Man, she’s good. Joaquin blows your mind, but that she could keep up with him, and be real — and not just wiped off the screen by what that role is and what the performance is — shows she’s good.”
Yes, the casting director of a movie is saying the lead actress of the movie gives a great performance. This isn’t necessarily bombshell material, but on the holiday weekend it’s turned into news, especially with Lady Gaga gaining serious Oscar buzz for her role in ‘Folie À Deux.’
So, yes, there is, obviously, an inherent bias in having the casting director of ‘Folie À Deux’ make the claim that Gaga’s performance will “blow your mind,” but the more pertinent question I have is whether Gaga actually has in her acting skillset to “blow our minds” with anything she does on-screen.
She was firmly in her musical wheelhouse, and quite good, in the first half of “A Star is Born,” but I found she couldn’t hit the dramatic notes needed during the more emotional second half of that film. She followed that one up with a lead role in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci,” a bizarre Italian soap opera which had Gaga fitting in quite nicely with the overall kitschy nature of the film. Nothing mind-blowing.
Gaga stars as Harleen Quinn in ‘Folie À Deux,’ set to premiere at Venice, and it could very well be the most challenging role of her career having to co-lead with Joaquin Phoenix, one of the more talented of his generation. Here’s hoping she surprises us and delivers something special.