Father, son and house of Gaga. Method acting aside, Lady Gaga worked through both a physical and mental transformation to play her character inspired by the real-life Patrizia Reggiani.
“I’d say truly the most challenging part was playing a murderer,” Gaga told Variety’s Marc Malkin at the red carpet premiere of the film at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. “But I will say that after a lot of research, I realized that she knows that she made a big mistake, and it was a lot of trauma that drove her towards this huge mistake that I know she regrets. So when you go see ‘House of Gucci,’ you will not watch a movie about some sexy, gold-digging murderess. You will watch a real woman fall in love and fall apart.”
Jared Leto, who plays Paolo Gucci, has drawn attention for his particularly dramatic physical transformation.
“The most important thing is the heart, the soul and the spirit of the character because without that you have nothing,” said Leto. “It was an immersive experience which I loved.”
Adam Driver, who plays Maurizio Gucci, didn’t even recognize Leto when he first saw him on set.
“The first time I actually saw Jared as Jared was during all this press stuff,” said Driver. “And what he does in the movie I think is great. It’s really fearless. I loved watching him, and I loved doing those scenes with him.”
Jeremy Irons, or Rodolfo Gucci in the film, was “amazed” and “amused” by Leto’s performance, saying that “he was hiding inside” the costume as he portrayed a person so different from himself, both he and Gaga standing out in this process as they used a more method approach.
“Gaga has her own methodology. I wouldn’t call it method, but I would it immersing in the character,” said director Ridley Scott.
“Both of them spoke all the time with an accent. They were never out of character through the whole movie,” remarked producer Giannina Facio. “Even when we had dinner and stuff, they were in character.”