Lady Gaga won’t be performing her best song nominee Hold My Hand from the film Top Gun: Maverick at Sunday’s 95th annual Academy Awards on March 12. She won’t be able to perform like the other shortlisted artists of the category at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater due to scheduling conflicts with her upcoming film Joker: Folie à Deux. (Also read: Lady Gaga stuns as Harley Quinn alongside Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker in first look from Joker: Folie À Deux)
Oscars producer Glenn Weiss confirmed in a news conference on Wednesday that the A Star is Born singer won’t be performing at the Oscars due to her ongoing work in the film Joker: Folie à Deux, where she plays Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker. “She is in the middle of shooting a movie. After a bunch of back and forth, it didn’t feel like she can get a performance to the caliber that we’re used to with her, that she is used to. So she isn’t going to perform,” said Weiss. However, Weiss did confirm that Lady Gaga will be attending the ceremony.
New images from the filming of Joker emerged a few days ago, where fans spotted Joaquin on the streets of downtown Los Angeles with a curly hairdo, untucked shirt, and smeared clown makeup. The director of the original 2019 film Joker, Todd Phillips, is returning for the sequel and has so far managed to keep the plot under wraps.
Meanwhile, the other nominees up for the Best Original Song Oscar will be performed in the ceremony, including Applause (from Tell It Like A Woman), Lift Me Up (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Naatu Naatu (RRR) and This Is A Life (Everything Everywhere All At Once). In a recent interview for Deadline with awards columnist Pete Hammond, producer Ricky Kirshner gave details about the performances that are planned for the ceremony. “We’ve announced some of the performances, and there are still more announcements to come. So I will say that the ones we’ve announced, very creatively, have taken to make their song very performance based and very visual. Obviously, as you can imagine, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Very visual. David Byrne [who co-wrote and performed that film’s song This Is A Life] had a lot to say about what it’ll look like, so that’ll be cool. So we’re excited about all the performances that we have.”
The Oscars will take place in Los Angeles on March 12.