Father, son and a million memes.
Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci,” which debuts Wednesday, has already created one of the most popular memes of the year, thanks to Lady Gaga's portrayal of Patrizia Reggiani.
A line from the film, in which Gaga makes the sign of the cross while saying, “Father, son and House of Gucci,” went viral after the trailer debuted in July, with fans obsessing over her thick Italian accent.
Now, experts say, with the film's coming release, there will inevitably be more memes to come.
The film, which also stars Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto and Jeremy Irons, tells the story of how Reggiani married into the Gucci family and how her ambition and drive unraveled the company, eventually leading to a murder. In addition to the star power, the film also features the characters dressed in the high fashion of the 1970s, the ’80s and the ’90s. All those elements are meme fodder.
"'House of Gucci' already looks like it’s going hard into campy murder melodrama, which is going to be perfect for memes," said Adam Downer, senior editor for the meme database Know Your Meme.
Gaga knows she's been memed a lot
Shane Tilton, an associate professor of writing and multimedia studies at Ohio Northern University, said the film has everything to make it worthy of internet buzz.
“I cannot think of a better movie to put Lady Gaga in to invoke her fan base, because it has everything,” said Tilton, the author of the coming book “Meme Life.”
After the trailer's release, people could not stop commenting on the now-iconic line on Twitter.
On TikTok, some even lip-synced to Gaga's voice saying the phrase.
TikTok and Twitter have also devoured another moment from the trailer, in which Gaga, decked out in winter clothing, clinks a spoon against a cup of espresso three times and says in a thick Italian accent, "I don't consider myself a particularly ethical person, but I am fair."
In an interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Lady Gaga said she is very aware of the memes.
“I saw it a lot on the internet. Also people shout it at me when I’m on stage all the time,” she told the show. “In Vegas, I’ll be in the middle of a serious song, and someone will go, ‘Father, son, House of Gucci!’”
Gaga's been memed before
It is not the first time memes have been born out of a Lady Gaga film.
A sequence from the 2018 film "A Star is Born," in which Gaga stars opposite Bradley Cooper, became a beloved meme format.
During a slew of press junkets and red carpet appearances, Gaga repeated an anecdote about Cooper that transcended meme status to become a something of an internet idiom.
"There can be 100 people in a room and 99 of them don’t believe in you, but all it takes is one, and it just changes your whole life," Gaga repeated in multiple interviews, referring to Cooper.
The line was quickly seized on, and it has even been used in memes about Gaga's promotion of "House of Gucci."
But long before Gaga, a 12-time Grammy winner, began her career in film, her cutting-edge persona and show-stopping antics — like attending the Grammys in an egg-like vessel or wearing a meat dress at the MTV Video Music Awards — had made her a meme queen.
"This helped attract a lot of queer fans and center herself in pop culture," Downer said. "She’s continued reinventing herself for every album. Thus, every time she re-emerges on the scene, it’s a big moment for pop and meme culture."
Gaga's most fervent and diehard stans, whom she calls her "Little Monsters," have been promoting the film since it was announced, and they have helped to inundate social media with content that has then be meme-ified.
"She understands that her fans basically take what she gives. ... It is a perfect vehicle for her fans to have this deeper parasocial relationship with her," Tilton said of "House of Gucci."
Downer added that because of the dedication of Gaga's fans, the film is likely to be meticulously combed for meme content.
"Having such a huge, devoted standom puts a figure on a pedestal, such that every moment is dissect-able and you can find humor in it," Downer said. "Sort of how, say, every frame of 'SpongeBob' is memeable due to the devotion of its fans — fans of Gaga can find plenty of material to meme from."
Tilton said the fan base is also likely to use its knowledge of Gaga's history to create comparative memes that link "House of Gucci" with her past.
“What I would look for as the movie is released, you want to look for lines from the movie that can be tied back to older Lady Gaga works," Tilton said. "And those memes will explode."