Lady Gaga Speaks Out on the JOKER: FOLIE A DUEX Backlash and Underwhelming Box Office Numbers
Lady Gaga, who starred as Lee Quinzel in Joker: Folie À Deux, has finally addressed the harsh criticism and underwhelming box office performance.
The film, directed by Todd Phillips and co-starring Joaquin Phoenix, was expected to replicate the massive success of its predecessor, but instead, it massively fell far short of expectations, earning only $206 million globally, which is a fraction of the first film’s $1 billion haul.
In a recent profile with Elle, Gaga shared her perspective on the film’s failure to connect with audiences, saying:
"People just sometimes don't like some things. 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."
For an artist of her caliber the fear of failure could be rough, but Gaga says she refuses to let it control her. She said: "When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem."
While the movie was a huge flop and disappointed a lot of fans, the creative team and studio behind it are all going to be fine. They will continue to get work and they will continue to make millions of dollars on the projects they take on.
The creative team just made some interesting creative decisions for the film that didn’t work. The decision to make Folie À Deux a musical seemed to have alienated a lot of fans. But, the story didn’t really work either.
With its enormous production budget, Warner Bros. was likely expecting another awards-season juggernaut and box office juggernaut. Instead, the film has been mostly dismissed by critics and audiences and it ended up earning a bunch of Razzie nominations.
