Lady Gaga Talks About 'Difficulty' Of Leaving Behind Harley Quinn: 'You Fall In Love'

Following her roles in A Star Is Born and House of Gucci, Lady Gaga, in a recent interview, claimed that she wanted to explore uncharted territory. In the latest film, Joker: Folie a Deux, she plays the iconic character Harleen Quinzel, better known as Harley Quinn. Teaming up with Joaquin Phoenix, who reprises his role as Arthur Fleck, the film continues two years after the original movie’s conclusion. Early viewers are already praising her bold and impactful performance, many are even curious about Quinn’s future.

Gaga, in her interaction with PEOPLE, discussed how she connected emotionally with her DC character. She explained that while she didn’t take the character home with her, she still feels a strong attachment with the roles she plays.

The singer said, “I really wanted to do something that I’ve never done before. There’s so much around identity and duality in this movie. For me, having a persona in my life as Gaga, I think I just wanted to make it really grounded in reality because I definitely think having two identities is really complicated. And I knew that there was a real story in there.”

Lady Gaga further shared her thoughts on Harley Quinn’s feelings for Arthur, believing that Harley’s love for Joaquin Phoenix’ character is a mix of “love and obsession,” but at the same time, “it was truthful and dishonest.” She also pointed out that Harley is an unpredictable character, just like everyone else. Gaga added, “Sometimes in storytelling, I think there’s a pull to want to make things make sense. And that was our enemy making this movie. The more that she could be a contradiction, actually, I thought the more real she was.”

The actress admitted that she found it hard to fully move on from Harley Quinn after finishing the film, Joker: Folie a Deux. She said “I mean, I didn’t bring her home with me. But you fall in love with the characters that you play. I always have, anyway. Sometimes I’ve had trouble leaving them.”

Directed by Todd Phillips. Joker: Folie a Deux, also stars Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Leigh Gill, Zazie Beetz, Sharon Washington and Steve Coogan. The movie is scheduled to release on October 4.