Release the Gaga Cut!
Joker: Folie à Deux came out this past weekend, and the reviews haven't been kind.
The sequel to the first Joker film, which won actor Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar, is receiving dour reviews from critics and audiences alike, with a 33% critic rating and a 31% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Viewers are complaining about the film's lack of substance, meandering style, disdain for its audience, and disjointed style. They're also complaining that it seems like many of Lady Gaga's scenes have been cut.
Gaga plays Lee (Harley Quinn) in this sequel — an obsessive Joker fan who starts a love affair with Arthur on the pretense that once he gets out of jail, the two of them will burn the world down.
In the end, however, her character doesn't do anything that really matters to the narrative… and when she leaves, it was like she wasn't even there.
Fans have also noticed that a lot of the promotional images and stills used in the marketing of Joker: Folie à Deux, especially ones with Gaga, had been cut from the movie, making it even more confusing.
Scroll through to check out 5 scenes of Lady Gaga that fans have noticed were cut from the final edit ofJoker: Folie à Deux, which is currently playing in theaters.
Lee in an elevator after cutting her hair.
Warner Bros. Pictures
One of the earliest images we saw of Gaga as Lee was one that she posted herself on her Instagram when the film wrapped. It shows Lee wearing smeared harlequin makeup with a bob haircut and standing in an elevator with dead eyes. While we see Gaga with that haircut in the movie, this shot is nowhere to be found in the final cut.
Lee and Joker dance on the courthouse stairs.
Warner Bros. Pictures
One of the most commonly used images in trailers for the movie was that of Lee and Arthur both dancing on the stairs to the courthouse where Arthur is on trial for murder.
Both Gaga and Phoenix dance in a similar way that the character of Arthur did on the stairs in the first Joker movie. We've seen Lee by herself on the courthouse stairs dancing, but overall, it seemed like that scene would be a large musical sequence. Except that it never happens in the actual movie.
Lee walks and dances up the stairs.
Behind-the-scenes footage also shows a scene where Lee, still with her long hair, is walking up the famous stairs from the first Joker movie and does a little bit of dancing. But we never see her on the stairs in the movie until the end.
Lee kisses a woman on the courthouse stairs (1/2).
Another cut scene we had seen thanks to some fans filming production of the movie was one where Gaga grabs a woman out of the crowd of protestors at the courthouse stairs and kisses her.
Lee kisses a woman on the courthouse stairs (2/2).
In the clip, Lee is walking up to the courthouse when an anti-Joker protester says, "You're going to hell." Lee stops, kisses her on the lips, and says, "Now you're going with me."
Phillips explained that he cut the scene, which Gaga improvised, because it interrupted the musicality of the scene.
"It had dialogue in it, and, all of the sudden, I wanted it to be more of a music and vibe moment," he said.
An ending with Lee dancing on the 'Joker' stairs (1/2).
Joker dancing on the stairs is one of the most memorable scenes from the first Joker, and in Folie à Deux, Lee talks several times about the iconic stairs. Scenes of Gaga dancing on the iconic stairs were also filmed, but were eventually cut from the movie.
An ending with Lee dancing on the 'Joker' stairs (2/2).
Fans had captured footage (and shared plenty of content across social media) of Gaga dancing and singing "That's Entertainment!" on the stairs while Arthur is arrested… seemingly an ending that was filmed but wasn't used.
Posters for the movie also show Lee and Arthur dancing on those Joker stairs, something that never happens in the movie.
If you still want to see it, Joker: Folie à Deux is now playing in theaters.
