At this point, we all know that for better or for worse, Lady Gaga loves going Method for her roles. She claimed that for her role as Ally in “A Star is Born” — the role that won her an Oscar for best original song thanks to the showstopper “Shallow” — she lived in the role for years. More recently, she changed her singing voice and walked the set of “Joker: Folie á Deux” as Harleen “Lee” Quinzel. In 2022, for the biopic “House of Gucci,” Lady Gaga took “the Method,” where you fully embody your character even when the cameras are off super seriously, and even spoke in an Italian accent for her role as Patrizia Reggiani. Apparently, she also refused to speak to one of her co-stars as a result of her approach to Patrizia.
In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, French actress Camille Cottin — who shared one scene with Lady Gaga on “House of Gucci” where Cottin played Paola Franchi, mistress to Patrizia’s husband Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) — said that the film’s lead actress wouldn’t speak to her on-set as part of her process. Still, Cottin said it wasn’t rude at all.
“She did it in a very lovely way,” Cottin said in the interview, praising Lady Gaga lavishly. “I didn’t know her, but I’d seen the documentary about her. And you can see how she wouldn’t be where she is if she wasn’t such a hard worker. Very focused. I have a lot of admiration and respect.”
Would Camille Cottin consider going method on a future project?
So would Camille Cottin consider going method like Lady Gaga for a role? While Cottin clearly admires the dedication shown by Lady Gaga and other Method-loving actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, Christian Bale, and Dustin Hoffman, she also feels like it would interfere with her everyday life. “To be honest, I would have loved to do this,” Cottin told The Guardian. “But as a mum, if I come and pick up my children as an assassin trainer? Handing them a croissant and saying: ‘Be careful, we’re being watched,’ pushing them into a black car. I’m kidding. But honestly, I would have loved to do this, because the result is brilliant.”
Beyond her (understandable) misgivings about potentially using the Method, Cottin went on to praise Lady Gaga even more, lamenting the fact that the “Born This Way” singer didn’t score an Academy Award nomination for playing Patrizia Reggiani in “House of Gucci.” Cottin concluded, “I really regret that she’s not nominated at the Oscars, because I think she’s fantastic.”
Where else you seen Camille Cottin besides House of Gucci
So where have you seen Camille Cottin other than her role as Paola Franchi in “House of Gucci?” If you’re a real Francophile, you remember her breakout role in “The Parisian B***h, Princess of Hearts” — a hidden camera movie where Cottin’s Parisienne, Camilla, travels to London to try to seduce Prince Harry — but Cottin really rose to prominence in her home country thanks to “Dix Pour Cent.” The show, which bears the title “Call My Agent” in English-speaking countries, stars Cottin as Andréa Martel, a high-powered talent agent and partner at her firm, who spends her time corralling difficult actors. (The show has featured a ton of real stars as exaggerated versions of themselves, including Monica Bellucci, Jean Dujardin, and even Sigourney Weaver.)
English-speaking audiences likely know Cottin from her turn on “Killing Eve” — she appeared in the final two seasons as the main antagonist Hélène — or Kenneth Branagh’s 2023 Hercule Poirot adaptation “A Haunting in Venice.” In any case, don’t expect to see Cottin going method any time soon.
