Lady Gaga ‘had a psychiatric nurse’ on House of Gucci set after ‘bringing the darkness home’
Lady Gaga in House of Gucci. (IMDb)
Lady Gaga has opened up about the steps she took to protect her mental health while shooting House of Gucci.
In the movie, Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted in 1999 for ordering the murder of her husband, Maurizio Gucci.
Gaga immersed herself in the role, living as Reggiani for a year-and-a-half and speaking in an Italian accent for nine months.
Speaking to the Just for Variety podcast, Gaga opened up about the toll her method approach took on her.
“I brought the darkness with me home,” she told the podcast, “because [Reggiani’s] life was dark.”
“I had a psychiatric nurse with me towards the end of filming,” she added. “I sort of felt like I had to. I felt it was safer for me.”
The singer played Patrizia Reggiani, the former wife of Maurizio Gucci, heir to the leather goods fortune. (IMDb/MGM)
Gaga was quick to stress that she in no way wants to “glorify” her method acting practices.
“I don’t think that any actor should push themselves to that limit,” she said.
“And I ask myself all the time why I do that. I’ve done some pretty extreme art pieces throughout my career – the things I’ve put my body through, my mind. It’s like a walnut of sadness in my stomach.”
Gaga added that she went through the same process for A Star is Born in 2018.
“I don’t know why I’m like that.
“I think that the best answer I could give you is have a sort of romantic relationship with suffering for your art that I developed as a young girl, and it just sometimes goes too far.
“And when it does go too far, it can be hard to reel it in your own.”
Lady Gaga’s extreme technique even startled Ridley Scott, who directed House of Gucci. He feared that by plunging herself into Reggiani’s psyche, Gaga would be left “traumatised“, and he urged her not to do method acting again.
Gaga said one thing that would deter her from losing herself in another role is motherhood.
“I want to be available and present for my children in a way that I think when you are acting in that way,” she said, “it would be problematic for a child to be around.”
