Stories of actors going method for a role are always fascinating. It’s so unique to have a job that allows you to dump your regular personality and adopt another without people really questioning it. And it always leads to interesting stories, such as the one Lady Gaga revealed in Vogue about going full method for her role in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci.”
“It is three years since I started working on it,” Gaga explained, “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 added, “Off camera. I never broke. I stayed with her.”
For those unaware, “House of Gucci” tells the true story of Patrizia Reggiani and her tumultuous marriage to Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver). The story follows Reggiani as she hires a hitman to murder her ex-husband. So, needless to say, that’s quite the character to fully become for more than a year.
It wasn’t just the accent that put Lady Gaga in the ‘Gucci’ mindset. As she continued, the singer-turned-actress talked about all of the ways that she full embodied her “House of Gucci” role off set.
“It was nearly impossible for me to speak in the accent as a blonde,” she said. “I instantly had to dye my hair, and I started to live in a way whereby anything that I looked at, anything that I touched, I started to take notice of where and when I could see money. I started to take photographs as well. I have no evidence that Patrizia was a photographer, but I thought as an exercise, and finding her interests in life, that I would become a photographer, so I took my point-and-shoot camera everywhere that I went. I noticed that Patrizia loved beautiful things. If something wasn’t beautiful, I deleted it.”
“House of Gucci” marks the first film for Gaga since her Oscar-nominated role in the Bradley Cooper-directed drama, “A Star is Born.” So, all eyes are on the actress to see if she can follow-up that role up with another awards caliber performance.
“House of Gucci” hits theaters on November 24.