LADY GAGA really let her wild side lose while playing a murderous Italian heiress, by channelling a cat, a fox and a panther.

For nine months, the singer and actress immersed herself in the troubled life of Patrizia Reggiani who ordered a deadly hit on fashion label heir Maurizio Gucci.

Lady Gaga on the red carpet for the House Of Gucci London premier last weekCredit: BackGrid

Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in the movieCredit: Splash
The flamboyant star thought of herself as a feline when performing different sides of Reggiani’s character in Sir Ridley Scott’s new film, House Of Gucci.

And she thinks that drawing inspiration from the natural world gave her a “seductive” edge.

The Poker Face singer says: “I actually had three different animals that I was working with. So earlier in her life, I was a cat, like a house cat.

“In the middle of the film, I was a fox. So I studied the way foxes hunt. And they’re actually quite playful when they hunt.

“And then I studied panthers for the end. They’re sort of seductive in the way that they do. And they sort of seduce and then they pounce.”

Gaga, 35, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, also employed a dialect coach and spoke in a northern Italian accent at all times — keeping in character during all nine months of filming.

“My mother and father met me as Patrizia a couple times,” says the New Yorker, who has an Italian background.

Going to such lengths could well pay off because there is an Oscar buzz around her performance in the star-studded movie, which opens next Friday.

Entertainment Weekly said “Lady Gaga’s earnest, ferocious performance completes her evolution from movie star to mighty dramatic actress,” while LA Times praised her “sheer charisma and presence, power of personality and commitment.”

But British director Scott told her to reign in the method acting because he was worried staying in character was damaging Gaga’s mental health.

The real-life Reggiana is a dark and dangerous person who conspired to have ex-husband Maurizio, one-time head of the Gucci fashion house, shot in cold blood in 1995.

For one scene, the actress drew on the most disturbing moment in her own life in an effort to express those emotions.

Gaga, who earlier this year shared that she was raped by a music producer when she was aged 19, said: “I took the pain I­ feel from being attacked when I was a young girl, from feeling left behind by people that I love, from feeling trapped that I can’t go out into a world that I love. I took that pain and I gave it to her.”

Seeing how much it was taking out of her, Ridley, 83, said “I don’t want you traumatising yourself.”

She replied that she’d already been through the trauma and might as well give it to him.

But the movie legend, whose other films include Gladiator, Alien and Blade Runner, insisted, “Leave it here and don’t do this to yourself anymore.”

Thankfully, Gaga is in a far more stable place these days.

For the past 18 months she has been dating tech entrepreneur Michael Polansky who she met through mutual friends.

Multi-millionaire Michael, 43, isn’t involved with showbusiness and is an executive director at the philanthropic organisation called The Parker Foundation.

He showed his romantic side by sending a huge bunch of flowers to the actress for her 35th birthday while she was filming The House of Gucci in Rome.

I took the pain I feel from being attacked as a young girl. I took that pain and I gave it to her.

Lady Gaga
Her previous romances with actor Taylor Kinney in 2015 and talent agent Christian Carino in 2018 reached the stage of getting engaged, but never the church door.

This time it could be different, because last year Gaga said her ambition was “marriage” and to be “a mom.”

That would require the star to find some time in her incredibly busy schedule.

Last year, she released her fifth album, this year she made House Of Gucci and she is currently touring the world attending premieres for the film.

Just changing into the incredible dresses she’s been wearing on the red carpets must be tiring.

On Tuesday night in New York she stepped out in a revealing black Armani gown, at the weekend in Milan she teased photographers by wearing a red corset-style Versace gown and in London last week she wowed in a purple Gucci dress and fishnet stockings.

But none of that was quite as exhausting as the physical transformation required to play Reggiani in the glitzy movie.

When she was shooting, the dedicated actress had to wake up at three o’clock in the morning to head towards the make-up trailer.

A prosthetic bald cap was placed over her real hair and then various extravagant wigs were pulled on top.

Gaga, who in 2019 won a Best Original Song Oscar for Shallow from movie A Star Is Born, reveals: “Our trailer where I got ready every day was like a science lab.

“There were 15 wigs back there that were actual replicas of the way she wore her hair at exact times in her life that we were able to find in photographs.

“They were specific to the era, even the chemicals that were used to dye the hair were specific to the era.”

The plot covers three decades of Reggiani’s turbulent life, from marrying Maurizio in 1972 to her husband leaving her in 1985 and organising the hit on him in 1995.

The singer laughed self-deprecatingly, saying: “Me passing as a 22 or a 25-year-old is ridiculous, but thank you Ridley for believing in me in that way.”

This woman was in love, was hurt and was oppressed by a patriarchal Italian system.

Lady Gaga
At times, the stress of getting everything right made Gaga so nervous that she was physically sick.

She said: “You wake up, you throw up, you go to set, throw up again.”

What got her through was a belief in giving a voice to the much-maligned Reggiani.

The 72-year-old Italian is seen as a gold-digger because of her obsession with having the best things money can buy.

When she first met Maurizio — played by Adam Driver in the movie — she is said to have thought he was a “loser” for driving a small car and later told a reporter “I would rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle.”

But Reggiani, who was nicknamed the Black Widow, has always denied plotting to kill Maurizio, even though she was convicted of this in 1998 and spent 18 years in jail.

And she has insisted that her dead ex-husband was the “love of her life.”

Gaga says she “admired her strength” and thinks “this idea that she was a gold digger was a fable”.

Having done relentless research into Reggiani’s background she came to the conclusion that she was kicking out against a male-dominated world.

The actress says: “I realised this woman was in love, this woman was hurt, this woman was oppressed by a patriarchal Italian system that’s systemic and painful.

“And we all are and also all of us, as women, we don’t always commit murder when these things happen — but she did.”

House Of Gucci is the latest in a long line of true crime stories to be picked up in Hollywood, including Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Monster, starring Charlize Theron.

They have all been accused of glamorising the killers and the Gucci family opposed the Ridley Scott production.

But Gaga concludes: “I don’t believe in the glorification of murder, I do believe in the empowerment of women.”

 

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Lady Gaga with co-star Adam Driver who plays her movie hubby MaurizioCredit: Youtube/MGM

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Patrizia Reggiani in 1998Credit: Rex

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Patrizia Reggiani ordered a deadly hit on fashion label heir Maurizio Gucci – pictured here together in 1972Credit: Alamy

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