Lady Gaga Comments on the Negative Comments and Failure of ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’

Back in 2019, Joker became a massive hit, making over $1 billion and earning plenty of award nominations. Joaquin Phoenix even won a ‘Best Actor’ Oscar for his role. At the time, both Phoenix and director Todd Phillips said they wouldn’t make a sequel.

But things changed. They decided to reunite for Joker: Folie À Deux and brought Lady Gaga on board as Lee Quinzel. Warner Bros. gave them a big budget, likely expecting another box office win. Instead, they took a bold route and made the movie a musical—a choice that didn’t sit well with audiences.

The sequel only made $206 million worldwide, far from the success of the first film. To make things worse, the movie is now leading this year’s Razzie nominations, which recognize the worst in film. Neither Phoenix nor Phillips have commented on how the sequel flopped, but it’s clear this wasn’t the outcome they hoped for.

In a recent interview, Gaga reflected on this rare misstep:

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.

Gaga, who made history in 2019 by winning an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Grammy all in the same year, shared that the fear of failure can often be harder to deal with than failure itself. ‘When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem,’ she said.

For now, Joker: Folie À Deux seems to be remembered as a rare misfire for everyone involved, a surprising twist after the original film’s massive success.

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