In pop star Stefani Germanotta a.k.a. Lady Gaga’s new Netflix documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two, there’s an awful lot to unpack. However during one intimate, chatty moment on screen, it was all about what she wouldn’t say aloud.
"If I’m gonna be sexy on the VMAs and sing about the paparazzi, I’m gonna do it while I’m bleeding to death and reminding you of what fame did to Marilyn Monroe,” she said, squatting near a parked car outside the studio. She continued, “And what it did to Anna Nicole Smith. And what it did to…yeah. Do you know who?"
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Gaga: Five Foot Two director Chris Moukarbel revealed the “you know who” was indeed about the late Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"I think Amy was a little bit of a spirit that haunted this movie," Moukarbel said. "Gaga has a lot of overlap with Amy. They were compared a lot in the beginning."
Moukarbel’s point is true considering Gaga’s jazz-like inspired beginnings.
Despite numerous posthumous music releases, the final recording of Winehouse’s career was with musical legend Tony Bennett on his album Duets II. Gaga, released a full-length album, Cheek To Cheek with Bennett in 2014. “I thought of her [Amy Winehouse] almost every day in the studio. I wish she was still here. She was jazz to her core,” she said on Twitter. The two artists have also worked closely with producer Mark Ronson.
"The idea that working with Mark at that time, and the relatively recent death of Amy, was something that everybody was very aware of," Moukarbel said to Buzzfeed. "It really did haunt her and haunt the movie to a certain extent."