Lady Gaga Has the Perfect Response to Joker 2 Backlash

Months after Joker: Folie à Deux earned largely negative reviews, star Lady Gaga (who played Harley Quinn) has the perfect response to all of the backlash. In an interview with Elle, the Oscar-winning performer discussed the reception to the film, and she fortunately isn’t taking it too personally. “People just sometimes don’t like some things,” she said. “It’s that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it.”

Even though Joker: Folie à Deux didn’t resonate with audiences, Gaga plans to keep taking risks throughout her career. “[Y]ou keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended,” she said. “When [the fear of failure] makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem.”

The sequel to 2019’s Oscar-winning Joker, Joker: Folie à Deux was at one point thought to be a potential awards contender, replicating its predecessor’s success. However, once the film premiered, it became clear that wasn’t going to happen. Joker 2 earned mixed reviews out of the Venice Film Festival, and its musical numbers polarized moviegoers. Whereas the original Joker was a $1 billion box office smash, Joker: Folie à Deux was one of the most notorious bombs of 2024, grossing $207.5 million worldwide.

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Joker: Folie à Deux “earned” six Razzie Nominations, tying with Madame Web, Borderlands, Reagan, and Megalopolis for the most this year. Even some of the film’s actors were critical of the project. Tim Dillon, who portrayed an Arkham Asylum guard, called Joker 2 “the worst film ever made,” sharing that during production, he and fellow cast members predicted the movie would flop. However, Joker: Folie à Deux has some fans; video game developer Hideo Kojima believes the film’s reputation will improve over time.

Gaga seems to have the right attitude, taking the performance of Joker: Folie à Deux in stride. It’s encouraging that she isn’t letting it hinder her from taking more chances in the future. That mindset might have been what encouraged her to sign on for Joker 2 in the first place. Even though it was a follow-up to a Best Picture nominee that grossed $1 billion, the film represented something of an artistic risk by being a jukebox musical. It obviously didn’t work, but in retrospect, one can see the appeal for Gaga. She likely saw it as a way to challenge herself and perhaps find herself in the Oscar race.

Rolling the dice creatively can be great, illustrating a desire to go outside the box. However, it will be important moving forward to ensure Joker: Folie à Deux is just a blip on the radar. As Gaga continues to pursue on-screen roles in projects like Wednesday Season 2, hopefully her upcoming movies and TV shows earn a far greater reception. Gaga has demonstrated she’s a remarkable talent capable of playing a wide range of characters, and it’ll be interesting to see what she does next. Even if it isn’t a “safe” choice, ideally it will be a high-quality production.