With Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci hitting screens later this week, Lady Gaga has opened up about playing the murderous socialite Patrizia Reggiani in an exclusive podcast interview.
“My very initial thoughts about this role were complicated,” she said in the podcast, titled House of Gucci: Interview Special. “Before I started reading the script, I heard it was about the Black Widow, the woman who had Marizio Gucci killed, and I thought to myself, ‘maybe this is another movie about a sexy murderess – and she’s chaotic, risky, and hot. That’s not interesting’. Then I read the script, and then, I met with Ridley Scott.“
She added: “I felt strongly that the way she was portrayed in the media was not indicative of what this movie was supposed to be, but rather, how did a young women fall in love and fall apart. To me, that was fascinating.”
The pop star also shared her experiences working with Scott. “Ridley is different to anyone I’ve ever worked with,” she said. “I felt very empowered by him as a woman on set.”
House of Gucci – Gaga’s first major acting role since A Star Is Born, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for best actress – will arrive in cinemas on November 24.
In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the actor and Chromatica singer said that she tapped into real-world trauma to play the role, relying on a Stanislavski acting technique that involves revisiting sense memories from an emotional event.
Expanding on her previous claims that she “lived as” her character during shooting, she explained: “I was falling apart as (Patrizia) fell apart. When I say that I didn’t break character, some of it was not by choice.”
The role was apparently so toiling that she described how, most days, she would vomit from a blend of “anxiety, fatigue, trauma, exhaustion, commitment, and love”.
“You wake up, you throw up,” she said. “You go to set, throw up again.”
However, Gaga added that she feels “insecure” about discussing her dramatic experiences on House of Gucci. “I get nervous that people will assume that I’m sensationalising a certain type of acting,” she said.
Watch the trailer for the House of Gucci: Interview Special podcast below.
