Lady Gaga quickly discovered that committing to staying in character for over a year has some negative repercussions.
The singer-turned-actress really attacked her role as Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, recently revealing that she remained in character for a very long time.
Now, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gaga has recalled just how tough filming was for her mental health. She revealed that she would regularly wake up at 3am in order to begin her intense physical transformation, including a prosthetic bald cap and wigs.
She stated that she would often vomit after she awoke due to a combination of “anxiety, fatigue, trauma, exhaustion, commitment and love.” “You wake up, you throw up, you go to set, throw up again,” as she put it.
Gaga’s commitment soon started to concern co-stars like Salma Hayek and director Scott. While she was using the famed Stanislavski acting technique – recalling personal memories from an emotional event – in a scene alongside Hayek, the thin line between her own experiences and those of her character began to worryingly blur.
“It’s a scene where I knock a lit candle across the room, and I remember I gave Salma a heart attack that day,” Gaga said. “I was falling apart as (Patrizia) fell apart. When I say that I didn’t break character, some of it was not by choice.”
It was then that Scott decided to intervene out of concern for the actress’s welfare. “Ridley said, ‘I don’t want you traumatising yourself.’ And I said, ‘I already have. I’ve already been through this anyway. I might as well give it to you,’” she explained.
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All these stories of just how much Lady Gaga gave to the role might pay off come awards season: she’ll be one of the favourites to secure a Best Actress nomination, which would be her second nod in that category following her nomination for her first major acting role in A Star Is Born.
House of Gucci will be released in cinemas next week on November 24th, before being made available to stream on Paramount+.
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Check out the trailer for House of Gucci:
