The 35-year-old performer plays the role of Patrizia Reggiani in the upcoming 'House of Gucci' film.
Lady Gaga is preparing for the release of her highly anticipated film, House of Gucci, in which she portrays Patrizia Reggiani, the Italian widow who in real life served 18 years of a 26-year prison sentence for reportedly having her ex-husband killed.
The 35-year-old performer took her leading role very seriously, going method to play the part, and the process took its toll.
“It is three years since I started working on it, and I will be fully honest and transparent: I lived as her [Reggiani] for a year and a half. And I spoke with an accent for nine months of that,” Gaga shared with British Vogue. “Off camera [too]. I never broke. I stayed with her.”
The process led Gaga to find herself struggling off camera.
“I had some psychological difficulty at one point towards the end of filming,” she shared with the magazine. “I was either in my hotel room, living and speaking as Reggiani, or I was on set, living and speaking as her. I remember I went out into Italy one day with a hat on to take a walk. I hadn’t taken a walk in about two months and I panicked... I thought I was on a movie set.”
Her approach led to some distance from her loved ones.
“There was some silence and some disconnect for a while,” she confirmed when asked.
When discussing her method to acting, Gaga said, "I ask myself, ‘Is this healthy, the way that you do this?’ I just don’t know any other way.”
In her research for the part, Gaga specifically did not speak to Reggiani, who is still alive and who has commented publicly on not being contacted by Gaga or director Ridley Scott.
“I only felt that I could truly do this story justice if I approached it with the eye of a curious woman who was interested in possessing a journalistic spirit so that I could read between the lines of what was happening in the film’s scenes,” she explained. “Meaning that nobody was going to tell me who Patrizia Gucci was. Not even Patrizia Gucci.”
Gaga also wanted to be clear that she does not want to glorify a murderer in the film.
“I wish not to glorify somebody that would commit murder,” she said. “But I do wish to pay respect to women throughout history who became experts at survival, and to the unfortunate consequences of hurt. I hope that women will watch this and remind themselves to think twice about the fact that hurt people hurt people. And it’s dangerous. What happens to somebody when they’re pushed over the edge?”
House of Gucci his theaters Nov. 24.
RELATED CONTENT:
