Lady Gaga & Joaquin Phoenix Talk Extreme Transformations For ‘Joker’ At Venice Film Festival

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix are at the Venice International Film Festival for the premiere of their highly anticipated film “Joker: Folie á Deux.” On Wednesday, Sept. 4, the stars gave a press conference alongside director Todd Phillips. Phoenix revealed all the musical performance were done live at the suggestion of Gaga. “I think it created an energy that was, was necessary,” the actor said. Phoenix, who previously lost more than 50 pounds for the original film, revealed getting back into character for the sequel was more complicated because of the added dance rehearsals. He also praised his co-star for her own transformation, saying of Gaga, “You went away for, like, a month, and then you came back, and you lost a lot of weight and it was really impressive. It seemed very difficult.” Gaga revealed she wanted to do the movie after being moved deeply by the first film. “Sometimes when stories are told about people that are maybe misunderstood by society, the director gives you a chance, the actor gives you a chance to really take a hard look at that world in a deeper way,” she said. “I felt like when I watched the first film, that I got to understand and see something that I may have never seen before.”