Lady Gaga Graces The Cover of EMPIRE as Harley Quinn

EMPIRE Magazine has unveiled the cover of their upcoming issue, featuring Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix as Harley Quinn and the Joker.

Lady Gaga gave her first interview about her role in "Joker: Folie à Deux," discussing how she adjusted her singing voice to sound more authentic for her character "Lee."

"People know me by my stage name, Lady Gaga, right? That’s me as that performer, but that is not what this movie is; I’m playing a character. So I worked a lot on the way that I sang to come from Lee, and to not come from me as a performer. [...] How do you take music and have it just be an extension of the dialogue, as opposed to breaking into song for no conceivable reason? It was unlike anything I’ve ever done before.

[...] For me, there’s plenty of bum notes, actually, from Lee, I’m a trained singer, right? So even my breathing was different when I sang as Lee. When I breathe to sing on stage, I have this very controlled way to make sure that I’m on pitch and it’s sustained at the right rhythm and amount of time, but Lee would never know how to do any of that. So it’s like removing the technicality of the whole thing, removing my perceived art-form from it all and completely being inside of who she is."

In another part of the interview, Lady Gaga shared that while she drew some inspiration from the Harley Quinn of the comic books, she ultimately created her own version of the character, influenced by followers of Charles Manson.

You can read the full interview here.

The new issue of EMPIRE Magazine will be available on newsstands on Thursday, August 1.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” will hit theaters around the globe this October.