Did Joaquin Phoenix Tell Lady GaGa He Thought Joker 2 Was ‘Horrible’ After Cannes Premiere?!

Joker: Folie à Deux isn’t just underperforming at the box office. Fans AND critics don’t like it very much — it has a RottenTomatoes score of 33% and an audience score even lower at 31%! And if that isn’t enough, we raise you the film’s star…

Because a lot of folks now think Joaquin Phoenix secretly think the movie is “horrible”!

The highly-anticipated sequel to 2019’s Joker is flopping hard, and now attention has turned to a viral moment shared between stars Joaquin and Lady GaGa way back at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival premiere in June.

Related: Lady GaGa Says She’s ‘In A New Place’ After Going ‘Through A Lot’ In Her Career

In the footage, which has been making its rounds on X (Twitter), Joaquin is seen saying something to GaGa during the audience’s 11-minute standing ovation — and lip readers were quick to try and puzzle together what he said. One user suggested using an AI lip reader to discern exactly what the Oscar winner said, and theorized he told GaGa about the film:

“It’s horrible.”

See (below):

someone should use that ai lip reader that i keep seeing on here to figure out what they were saying….it almost looks like joaquin said, “it’s horrible” pic.twitter.com/G16qhasgJT

— ???????? (@Modern_Ecstasy) October 7, 2024

Oof…

Well, someone DID use an AI lip reader, and that’s what it came up with, too! But it makes the situation all the more sad because GaGa seemingly attempted to defend their film, responding, “No, it’s not. Don’t say that.” The two then had a full fledged convo about it, according to the lip reader, in which he argues how bad it is, noting:

“The ending could have been different.”

And when she says she “loved it,” he responds:

“You did? Yikes.”

You can watch (below):

If this was truly how the conversation went, I genuinely feel bad for both Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

It seems that Gaga tried her best to lift Joaquin’s spirits, but it’s clear that they both understand what Todd Phillips did with the new “Joker” movie.

The weight of the… pic.twitter.com/lluVqZUS10

— Oh So Super ????️ (@OhSoSuper) October 7, 2024

It’s even more awkward that director Todd Phillips was RIGHT on the other side of Joaquin! And some folks have even said they saw Joaquin taking the director aside at one point. Maybe to let him know it wasn’t working? Man, wild if the film that got him so much acclaim had a sequel he HATED. Obviously it wouldn’t be the first time it happened in Hollywood. See: The Godfather Part III.

Of course, let’s just remember to take this with a grain of salt… As of now, there’s been no solid confirmation about what was or wasn’t said. This is just an interpretation of a convo no one could hear.

What are your thoughts, Perezcious readers?? Have YOU seen Joker: Folie à Deux? What did you think? Sound OFF in the comments down below!

[Images via Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube & Nicky Nelson/WENN]