Lady Gaga has talked about her House of Gucci accent, and method style of acting that saw her stay in character for 18 months.
“If I’m being honest, I do feel that it’s been sensationalized that I worked on my accent for so long, and that I was in character for so long,” Gaga told The New York Times (opens in new tab).
Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani in the Ridley Scott-directed film, which is based on the book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed. Reggiani was convicted of orchestrating her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci’s assassination in 1995, who is played by Adam Driver.
“I think it would have done more of a number on me had I not practiced it [the accent] so much,” Gaga went on to explain. “I would be talking like this with my mother, with friends, so that I, Stefani, could speak like this and it would be totally natural. It’s like muscle memory, so that when you’re in the scene, the accent is not in the way of the visceral quality of what’s happening in the room.”
The actor added: “But I want to be clear: I don’t think it’s about sensationalizing method acting or being in character as the only way to do things. It would have been harder for me to go in and out of character on set than to stay in it.”
The actor recently revealed more about her process for acting as Reggiani. “It is three years since I started working on it, and I will be fully honest and transparent: I lived as her [Reggiani] for a year and a half. And I spoke with an accent for nine months of that,” she said. “Off camera, [too]. I never broke. I stayed with her.”
House of Gucci arrives this November 26. While you wait, check out our guide to all the next few months’ upcoming movie release dates.