Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci dialect instructor said her accent is “more Russian” than Italian.
In Ridley Scott’s film about the infamous murder of Maurizio Gucci, the musician and actor play Patrizia Reggiani. Gaga previously stated that she “talked with an accent for nine months” in order to prepare for her role in the film, as well as that she had “psychological trouble” while portraying the character.
Her dialect instructor Francesca De Martini told the Daily Beast, “I feel so terrible saying this, but her accent isn’t actually an Italian accent, it sounds more Russian.” Furthermore, she added, “I was noticing when I was on set because I had earphones working with Salma [Hayek] and hearing what she was saying so I could help her to get it right, so I could hear Lady Gaga as well. When you see the trailer, there are so many different accents.”
According to De Martini, Hayek personally requested a dialogue coach after her first day of filming the movie. “I think she heard the accent wasn’t right and she was worried—she wanted to do well,” the coach said while noting that it did not appear that any other dialect coaches were present on set.
De Martini has nothing but raves for Hayek. “We really had a lot of fun,” she said. “I was running the lines with her, and we tried to improvise a bit because most of the time they have a little part of improvisation during the shooting, so we were trying to see other options…She’s a really nice person and really easy to work with. We had fun. We danced in the trailer.”
Gaga’s performance in House of Gucci was praised by many on social media, with LA Times critic Katie Walsh describing her as “this alchemy of sheer charisma and presence, power of personality, and commitment to the act.”
“The way she stares daggers at everyone on the silver screen is terrible,” she continued. The more I consider it, Patrizia appears to be a true horror villain.”