Joaquin Phoenix Says Lady Gaga 'Spit Up' Coffee When She Heard Him Sing: 'Made Me Feel Confident'

Joaquin Phoenix blew his Joker: Folie À Deux costar Lady Gaga away with his singing ability. 

In a recently published interview with Empire, the Oscar winner — who returns as the Joker / Arthur Fleck in the musical sequel — said that when he first sang for Gaga, 38, “I do seem to remember her spitting up coffee... so that felt good, that was exciting, and made me feel confident.”

“Gaga was always very encouraging of just, ‘go with what you feel, it’s fine,’ ” Phoenix continued of his costar, who plays Lee / Harley Quinn in the film. “For somebody who’s not a performer in that way, it can be... uncomfortable to do that, but also very exciting.”

Joker: Folie À Deux is the sequel to the 2019 film Joker, which also starred Phoenix. According to the official synopsis for the film, “Joker: Folie À Deux 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.”

In the film, music plays a key role in the developing relationship between Arthur and Lee. Phoenix said that for him, “It was important to protect that with poor phrasing and occasional bum notes.” 

“Arthur grew up hearing his mother play these songs on the radio” he continued. “He’s not a singer, and he shouldn’t sound like a professional singer. He should sound like somebody that’s taking a shower and just bursts out into song.”

In a previous Empire interview with Gaga, the Grammy and Oscar winner spoke about the biggest challenge of the role.

"People know me by my stage name, Lady Gaga, right? That’s me as that performer, but that is not what this movie is," Gaga explained. “"I’m playing a character, so I worked a lot on the way that I sang to come from Lee, and to not come from me as a performer." 

"It was unlike anything I’ve ever done before," she continued. "I’m a trained singer, right? So even my breathing was different when I sang as Lee."

Joker: Folie À Deux’s director Todd Phillips also confirmed with Empire that Phoenix’s portrayal of the iconic Batman villain will continue to stray away from the other iterations of the character.

“Arthur clearly is not a criminal mastermind. He was never that,” Phillips explained. “Arthur has become this symbol to people. This unwilling, unwitting symbol now paying for the crimes of the first film, but at the same time finding the only thing he ever wanted, which was love. That’s always what he’s been about, even though he’s been pushed and pulled in all these directions. So we tried to just make the most pure version of that.”

Joker: Folie à Deux is scheduled to be released in theaters on Oct. 4, 2024.