Why Joker 2 Director Todd Phillips Cut Lady Gaga’s Same-Sex Kiss Scene

Joker: Folie à Deux has been a big miss for both fans and critics, grossing just $40 million dollars at the domestic box office on its opening weekend, a far cry from the $100 million-plus it was expected to make just a few weeks ago. Once word got out that Todd Phillips‘ sequel was anything but a worthy successor to his 2019 movie, moviegoers largely shied away from theaters, opting instead to perhaps wait for its streaming debut. Eagle-eyed fans that did attend the film on its opening weekend were left scratching their heads in more ways than one, however, thanks to a highly-publicized scene that made the rounds on social media in 2023 that was cut from the final edit.

The shot of Lady Gaga’s character, Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, kissing a woman outside a courthouse made headlines last year, but in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Phillips revealed that the reason it was omitted from the movie was that the director wanted the scene to have a more musical vibe to it. For the sapphic kiss to make sense, it would have needed dialogue behind it, something he says would have taken away from the overall moment.

“It had dialogue in it, and, all of a sudden, I wanted it to be more of a music and vibe moment. For that moment to have played, it needed dialogue behind it. Meaning, the woman said something, and then Gaga stopped and did this thing, and it just kind of got in the way of the moment.”

It turns out the kiss wasn’t a scripted moment anyway, and that Gaga decided to improvise the moment on the spot, so Phillips’ decision to cut it from the final version of the film was no great loss. It’s doubtful it would have had any great impact on the scene, which featured Gaga’s character doing a brief song and dance number after being released from Arkham State Hospital, and heading to the courthouse to support her beloved Arthur Fleck.

How Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga Helped One Another During Filming

Though Phoenix had been in a quasi-musical before, portraying the late Johnny Cash in the 2005 film Walk the Line, that was nearly 20 years ago, and there were no big choreographed dance numbers to remember, nor was he playing off a Grammy Award-winning singer. As such, Phillips revealed in the same interview with EW that the 49-year-old star was extremely nervous about performing in front of Gaga in real-time, going so far as to make himself sick over it.

In turn, Gaga, who has thus far had limited experience in front of the camera (her most famous role coming by way of 2018’s A Star Is Born), looked to Phoenix for acting tips. Phillips says the duo ended up helping out one another throughout the production by trading tips and tricks for their respective trades.

“The truth is, they gave each other pointers. He’d give her pointers about acting; she’s been in movies, but he’s
Joaquin Phoenix
. She gave him tips about music because she’s
Lady Gaga
. It’s what movies should be: a giant collaboration.”

Despite the overall reception to Joker: Folie à Deux, it’s clear that both superstars poured their heart and souls into the film, and didn’t phone in their performances by any means. That’s all anyone could have asked for, considering the film’s $200 million budget, which saw Phoenix take home an estimated $20 million of that, and Gaga a slightly less purse of $12 million.

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