'A Star Is Born' Looking To Team Up Lady Gaga And Bradley Cooper
We've officially gone forty years without a new version of A Star is Born, but it's not like everyone hasn't been trying. After all, every generation is apparently supposed to get their own version of this familiar tale. It's an actual guideline, written in blood in the secret Hollywood Book of Rules that is stored in a crypt underneath the first "O" in the Hollywood sign. Don't look that up.
Anyway, after several years of false starts, it looks the third remake of A Star is Born may have found its lead in the form of pop star Lady Gaga.
Deadline reports that Lady Gaga (a.k.a. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) is now the frontrunner to star alongside Bradley Cooper in the upcoming film. This project, which is also set to be Cooper's directorial debut, has been in development for a long time, with Beyoncé Knowles being the original choice for this role back when Clint Eastwood was still set to direct. Deadline's article says that Lady Gaga isn't officially attached to the film yet, but she has been meeting with Cooper and that negotiations are set to begin soon.
For those unfamiliar with the legacy of this movie, A Star is Born originated as a 1937 film starring Janet Gaynor as a young ingenue who dreams of stardom and Fredric March as the washed-up, alcoholic former star who lends her a helping hand. It was remade in 1954, with Judy Garland playing the young ingenue who dreams of stardom and James Mason playing the washed-up, alcoholic former star who lends her a helping hand. It was remade again in 1976, with Barbra Streisand as the young ingenue who dreams of stardom and Kris Kristofferson playing the washed-up, alcoholic former star who lends her a helping hand. If history has taught us anything, this new version will see Lady Gaga play a young ingenue who dreams of stardom and Bradley Cooper playing a washed-up, alcoholic former star who lends her a helping hand.
Lady Gaga is actually an inspired choice for this role – she's a thoroughly modern performer and she will provide presence (and a soundtrack) that will be distinctly different from everyone who has come before her. Plus, she's hot off a Golden Globe win for her turn in American Horror Story and if she wants to make a splash in the movies, she needs to strike while the iron is hot. This is the kind of role that could truly play to her strengths.
A Star is Born isn't dated yet, but everyone seems to be looking at 2017.