Lady Gaga on the Set of 'Joker: Folie à Deux': Call Me 'Lee'

Lady Gaga seemingly inhabited her "Joker: Folie à Deux" character, Harley Quinn, so thoroughly that she asked to be called "Lee" on set – and that, according to the film's cinematographer, made a huge difference, IndieWire reported.

Until the moment Gaga's preference to be called "Lee" was communicated to him through an assistant director, cinematographer Lawrence Sher said there was something of a strange vibe between them.

"I didn't know Stefani at all" before the shoot, Sher recollected, referring to Gaga by her real name, Stefani Germanotta.

"Strangely, I felt like I never even met her, even during the makeup/hair tests," Sher added, saying that it might have been due to his own "philosophy of not trying to get in [an actor's] space." In any case, Sher recalled that "for a week" he was "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,'" the cinematographer went on to say. "I barely said anything, except I would say, 'Stefani, this is where your second team was,' minor little things."

All of that changed, however, when Mother Monster invited him into her acting process.

Sher related that "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."

Theorizing that "Lee" is "[s]hort for 'HarLEY Quinn' surely," IndieWire noted that "Lady Gaga has long been vocal about her method set practices, from staying in her Italian accent as Patrizia Reggiani for Ridley Scott's 'House of Gucci' to also staying in character 'for years' as Ally Maine for Bradley Cooper's 2018 'A Star Is Born.'"

Due for theatrical release in October of next year, the Todd Phillips film – the sequel to Phillips' 2019 hit "Joker" – is "said to be a musical film centered around the Arkham Asylum and its inhabitants – with cast including Zazie Beetz (returning from her seemingly hallucinated Arthur Fleck neighbor from the 2019 film), 'Banshees of Inisherin' Oscar nominee Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener in a secret role, Jacob Lofland as an Arkham Asylum inmate, 'Industry' breakout Harry Lawtey, and more," IndieWire relayed. Star Joaquin Phoenix is set to return in the title role.