Months after her latest film Joker: Folie à Deux opened to bad reviews and very disappointing box office, Lady Gaga is sharing her perspective on the matter.
“People just sometimes don’t like some things,” Gaga told Elle in an interview published Tuesday. ‘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.” She adds that the fear of failure is what can be really damaging: “When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem.”
Todd Phillips’ musical sequel, which saw Joaquin Phoenix reprise his Oscar winning role of the DC villain and also starred Gaga, followed the first 2019 film, which at one point was the highest grossing R-rated movie of all-time at $1.1 billion before it was unseated by Marvel Studios/Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine. But the sequel was fully rejected by moviegoers with a D Cinemascore, opening to an awful $37.6M stateside (versus the first movie’s record October bow of $96.2M), and finaled at $58.3M domestic, $206.4M worldwide off a $190M production cost before P&A.
The film currently holds a 31% score on Rotten Tomatoes and it received a nomination as one of the “worst” movies of the year by the 2025 Razzie Awards, with Gaga landing in the “worst actress” noms category.
Joker Part 2 finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him. The movie also stars Oscar nominees Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener, alongside Zazie Beetz, reprising her role from the first movie.
Phillips, in addition to directing, co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar nominee Scott Silver. The movie was produced by Phillips, Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and Joseph Garner. Gaga served as music consultant. Michael E. Uslan, Georgia Kacandes, Silver, Mark Friedberg, and Jason Ruder served as the pic’s executive producers.
