Lady Gaga on drawing from real-life trauma for House Of Gucci performance

Published

2 years ago

November 17, 2021

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“For me, it’s real,” Lady Gaga tells Sky News. “There are a lot of things that I’ve been through in my life, traumatic experiences, that I drew upon to play Patrizia.”

The star is talking about Patrizia Reggiani, the Italian socialite convicted of hiring a hitman to assassinate her ex-husband and fashion powerhouse Maurizio Gucci, whom she is playing in the new House Of Gucci film – currently making headlines as its stars attend premieres and promo events in an array of fabulous outfits around the world.

I’d waited to speak to her in a virtual waiting room on Zoom, two days after the UK premiere for the film. The star is running “a bit late” – 40 minutes – but when the reason is due to outfit changes, it’s hard to complain. This is Lady Gaga, after all.

When she does pop up on my screen, dressed in a pastel blue suit, off-camera she sounds tired but insists she’s happy to do the rounds with journalists to speak about the film, which is based on the true story of the family-run Gucci fashion empire. “I can’t wait for the world to see it,” she says. “We’ve had the worst 18 months, it’s time for the world to come together and watch movies!”

It’s been more than 10 years since Stefani Germanotta rose to fame as Lady Gaga and almost instantly cemented herself as one of the biggest – and most eccentrically-dressed – pop stars in the world, firing out hit after hit after hit; from Just Dance and Poker Face, to Paparazzi and Bad Romance, to Alejandro and Born This Way.

Since then, she has proved there are even more strings to her bow, including her talents as an actress; in 2018, she won critical acclaim for A Star Is Born, giving a raw, emotional performance that saw her nominated for the Oscar for best actress (and winning the award for best original song) the following year.

When she speaks about House Of Gucci, though, in which she stars opposite Adam Driver, it’s clear that Reggiani is one of her most emotionally challenging roles to date. “I was so broken at the end,” she says. “I feel like I’m reliving the technique of the process of building this film every day when I speak to you about it.”

Lady Gaga, of course, has a reputation for taking whatever she does very seriously (it takes some nerve to walk the red carpet in a meat dress, don’t you know?) and for House Of Gucci, she embraced method acting.

“I was in character for six months leading up to the film, and then for the three-and-a-half months that we filmed. I began with my accents, I would spend a lot of time talking to my family and everybody in my life to learn how to naturally speak with [the Italian] accent without it driving the acting.”

Did that not drive your family a bit… mad? I ask tentatively.

She laughs: “I think my mom actually really liked it. She’s always embraced this artistic side of me, ever since I was a little girl. My father would laugh. I drove some people crazy, of course, but you know, I’m like a child with art and I love to immerse myself.”

So serious is Lady Gaga about this role that when I bring up being envious of her imagination, she’s keen to stress that what we see on screen isn’t fully acting. The singer, who has previously spoken out about being raped by a male music producer when she was 19, tells me she directed past trauma into making the role feel real.

“I think I’m just like everybody else really,” she says. “I’m imagining, sure. I’m creative, sure. But I think that being imaginative comes from a real place, it’s just how you choose to synthesise who you are.

“When I think about my real life experiences, there was a lot of things that I’ve been through in my life, traumatic experiences, that I drew upon to play Patrizia, and it’s not necessarily imaginative in that way. I mean I’m calling upon myself. Now, it might be imaginative to you, you might see it and say ‘oh that looks like it possesses imagination’, but for me it’s not imaginative, it’s real.”

Gaga says the film (which is set mostly in Italy) has made her reflect on her Italian-American roots and just how far she has come since the start of her career. “I’m really grateful… my family worked so hard on the soil where we filmed so that I could have a better life, and here I am starring in a Ridley Scott film,” she says.

Strip away the costumes and wigs and the singer certainly brings an equally gripping intensity to the filmmaker’s latest work.

“I felt so empowered as a woman on set with mostly men and I felt loved,” she says. “He’s an absolute legend and he’s masterful at what he does. His process is like an architect, he describes the script as the blueprint.”

And as for the fact that the script is based on true events…

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She laughs: “To say that the Guccis were complicated would be a massive understatement. It’s amazing, you know, how you say things like, ‘you can’t make this up’. The truth about this whole story is you watch it and it’s actually unbelievable that it’s true.”

Reggiani, who is currently in prison, was convicted in 1998 of hiring a hitman to kill her husband.

“I have no interest in trying to make a case for why this should have happened,” Gaga says. “I don’t believe this should have happened, it’s reprehensible, it’s horrible… when this murder took place, I believe it happened because she was so traumatised, so hurt, that she made a terrible, awful mistake that she deeply regrets.”

Was the emotional exhaustion Lady Gaga suffered bringing Reggiani’s story to the screen worth it? Audiences will get to find out when House of Gucci comes out in cinemas on 26 November.

Entertainment

Dane Baptiste apologises to Jewish community for ‘disturbing’ language – and is dropped by agency

Published

2 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Dane Baptiste apologises to Jewish community for 'disturbing' language - and is dropped by agency

Comedian Dane Baptiste has apologised to the “Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans” following criticism over a now-deleted social media post.

The stand-up star, who has appeared on TV shows including 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Live At The Apollo, and Mock The Week, has been dropped by his talent agency Insanity.

The company said the contents of a deleted post were “completely at odds with our values and what we stand for”.

The Metropolitan Police has also been made aware of the post.

Baptiste said he had made “a massive error of judgment” after receiving “a number of threatening and abusive messages from accounts accusing me of antisemitism for having pro-Palestinian views”.

The comedian said his partner had made him aware that “some of these same people” were monitoring her Instagram account.

In an apology posted on social media, Baptiste said: “In a massive error of judgment, I posted an excessive and impulsive response, hoping to dissuade anybody monitoring my family.

“I made a point to say Zionist and not Jewish, but I appreciate how disturbing, threatening and incendiary that language is, I would categorically state I have no ill intention towards the Jewish community and never have.

“I have a loving family of which I am massively protective of; I reacted poorly and emotionally to a perceived threat with no considered thought to the consequences, and I apologise profusely for my actions to the Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans.”

Baptiste was the first black comedian to be nominated for the award for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2014, and also fronted the BBC Three sketch programme Bamous.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Insanity said: “Insanity became aware of a social media post published by Dane on Instagram yesterday.

“The contents of his post are completely at odds with our values and what we stand for. We promptly made this clear to him, and are no longer working with him.

“As an organisation we do not tolerate hate speech of any kind and are committed to the values of respect and tolerance for all.”

Sky News has contacted Baptiste for comment.

Entertainment

Universal artists to return to TikTok as dispute comes to an end

Published

8 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Universal artists to return to TikTok as dispute comes to an end

Universal Music and TikTok have ended a dispute over royalties after the label pulled millions of songs from the social media platform.

The new licensing agreement means songs by some of the biggest artists in the world, including Drake, Adele and Billie Eilish will return to the site for use within the next two weeks.

TikTok, a short video app, is a valuable marketing and promotional tool for music stars. But in January, Universal claimed it paid artists and songwriters “a fraction” of the rate offered by similar social media platforms, and announced it was pulling its catalogue.

Universal is the biggest music label in the world and also looks after Taylor Swift – who allowed a selection of her songs to return to TikTok as she promoted her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April. Swift owns the copyrights to her recordings through her 2018 deal with Universal and can control where her songs are available, according to the Financial Times.

The companies now say they have come to “a new multi-dimensional” licensing agreement that will deliver “significant industry-leading benefits” for Universal’s artists and labels.

In a joint statement, TikTok said it would continue to invest resources into “building artist-centric tools” and work on strengthening online safety protections for artists and their fans.

The AI issue

The agreement means all videos that had been muted will be unmuted. It comes just over three months since Universal posted an open letter criticising TikTok, calling for higher payments for artists and songwriters, protection from the “harmful effects” of AI, and online safety.

In their joint statement, the companies now say they will work together to ensure AI development across the industry “will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters”.

They will also work to remove unauthorised AI-generated music from the platform, as well as on tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution, the statement says.

Universal chairman and chief executive Sir Lucian Grainge said the “new chapter” focuses “on the value of music, the primacy of human artistry and the welfare of the creative community”, while TikTok chief executive Shou Chew added: “Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem, and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group.”

Concerns about AI have grown in the creative community. In April last year, a song featuring the cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd was removed from streaming sites after going viral.

On Tuesday, British singer-songwriter and producer FKA Twigs told a US Senate hearing how she had created her own digital clone – but condemned unauthorised use of her voice and image.

On Wednesday, a poll by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music found that 83% of UK adults agree that a music artist’s creative “personality” should be protected in law against AI copies and 77% believe it amounts to theft when generated music fails to acknowledge the creator of the original.

In April, more than 200 artists signed an open letter objecting to the “predatory” use of AI to “steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses”.

Entertainment

Wales to get own version of The Voice hosted by Radio 1 DJ

Published

9 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Wales to get own version of The Voice hosted by Radio 1 DJ

Wales is to get its own version of talent show The Voice, it has been announced.

The series named Y Llais (Welsh for The Voice) will be presented by Radio 1 DJ Sian Eleri.

The Boom Cymru-produced show will make its debut on S4C next year.

Opera star Sir Bryn Terfel has been announced as one of the four coaches.

The Grammy award-winning artist performed at the King‘s coronation last May.

The Welsh-language version becomes the 75th international adaptation of The Voice format.

The series sees contestants take part in “blind auditions” as they hope to impress the coaches and prompt them to turn their chairs to proceed to the next round.

The ITV series The Voice UK also features a Welshman as part of its coaching line-up, with Sir Tom Jones joining will.i.am, LeAnn Rimes and McFly‘s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.

The winner of the Welsh version will secure a 12-month mentoring scheme as well as further opportunities to perform on S4C programming.

“It’s great that the Land of Song is getting its own special version of the The Voice series,” Sir Bryn Terfel said.

Sian Eleri said she was “delighted to be presenting one of the biggest shows in the world”.

“For it to be happening on home soil with S4C is next level. Bring on those rotating chairs,” she added.

“As a nation we have produced some of the most successful singers in the world, and with this format we’re looking forward to discovering the next big voice from Wales,” added S4C’s interim chief content officer Geraint Evans.

The deadline to apply is 21 June, with auditions set to take place in North Wales on 12 July and in South Wales on 15 July.