Lady Gaga has reportedly been asked to be called "Lee" on set, rather than her real name, Stefani Germanotta. The director of photography Lawrence Sher said that until he began to call her by that name, he felt a disconnect with the singer/actress.
"I didn't know Stefani at all," he said in a recent podcast interview (thanks, IndieWire.)"Strangely, I felt like I never even met her, even during the makeup/hair tests. Because again, maybe it was my philosophy of not trying to get in their space."
"And then I remember for a week, being like, god, I feel like we are disconnecting. Not even connecting. We are like on opposites. And I would say to my crew, 'Jesus, I can't, like, crack it. She either hates me or we hate each other. There's something weird going on here.' I barely said anything, except I would say, 'Stefani, this is where your second team was, minor little things,' and then the AD at one point said, 'Oh you know, Stef would like if you just called her Lee on set.' And I was like, oh, 100 percent, and I literally said, the next thing I said, was something 'Lee,' and it was like everything changed. From that point on, it was like she was... our whole connection changed. I was like, alright, cool."
<social>https://twitter.com/ladygaganownet/status/1682125920532930565</social>
Lee seems to have no relation to Gaga's real name, so we can only imagine she's going full method for her role as Harley Quinn in the movie, with the Lee part deriding from there. Gaga has utilised intense acting styles before, remaining in her Italian accent throughout the House of Gucci filming, for example. Many actors taking on the role of the Joker or someone related to the Clown Prince of Crime have gone full method in the past, but sometimes this does lead to dangerous effects, such as in the case of Heath Ledger. Let's hope Gaga doesn't go off the deep end in terms of her performance as Lee.