WHAT WENT WRONG - A Star Is Born (2018)

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

How did the 4th (or maybe 5th) version of ‘A Star is Born’ take almost 20 years to make… and why did it almost star Russell Crowe and Beyoncé?! This week Lizzie and Chris break down Bradley Cooper’s 2018 directorial debut, and discover why Lady Gaga was initially a tough sell. Find out how everyone from Jamie Foxx to Metallica had a hand in this Oscar nominated film’s journey to the screen.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, dear listeners, and welcome back to another episode of What Went Wrong, your favorite podcast, Full Stop, that just so happens to be about movies and how it is nearly impossible to make them, let alone a good one. And I'm excited to talk about what I think is a pretty good one tonight. As always, I'm going to kick it over to my co-host, Lizzie Bassett. Lizzie, how are you doing? Well, thank you, Chris. I'm doing pretty much.

Oh, yeah, first. I can't even do it. No, I can't get that low either. And by the way, it's only. his speaking voice. When he sings, he goes into normal Bradley Cooper register. Yeah, sorry, I was trying to do my best Bradley Cooper as Jackson Mayne and it didn't quite work. That's because we are, of course, talking about the 2018 version of a star is born today. A star. A star. I'm also very excited to talk about this because I also think it's a really good movie. And that's it. Okay, great. Yeah, that's it. Nothing went wrong. No, I'm excited. I enjoyed this film. Lizzie, I'm assuming you'd seen it before. Oh, you betcha, brother.

I saw this in theaters and I've seen it many times since, and I love it every time. I do want to mention at the top before we get into this because of the subject matter of this movie. And we're going to talk about the many iterations prior to this version of it. There is going to be mention of suicide and also substance abuse across the episode.

So just FYI. I think that's well known about this franchise, but it is there. Yeah. This is one of those movies that, like, Every time I turn it on, I think I'm going to be able to make it through without just like uncontrollable ugly sobs. And it doesn't happen. I can't.

I get to the end when Bradley Cooper's spoiler alert, actual dog is sitting outside of his garage. And it's just, I can't do it. It makes me uncontrollably sad. Chris, what did you think upon this watch? So I had only seen it. It's the 2018 version one time before. I saw it in theaters. I enjoyed it. I still enjoyed it upon rewatching it. It does not hit me emotionally very hard. I also

rewatched. Because you have no soul. I guess not. I actually found the end of the 1954 version more tragic. And it hit me a little harder. Yes, I think it is in some ways. Yeah, the James Mason, Judy Garland version. I think there's so many interesting things about this movie. First of all, it's a remarkable directorial debut. Yeah, I'll say. But at the same time, I do think it's a movie, I've heard it picked on, especially amongst like kind of more film snobby circles. And I think it's an easy movie to pick on because it's a very earnest movie. It really, it's almost uncomfortably earnest in certain moments. But it's so well acted, I think it gets through those moments.

Well, it also has to be. Like when you consider what the franchise is, there's no way for this not to be that. It would not work. It paints with a very broad brush. It has to to get through. much story and it's running time. I do think that that's to the detriment of the 2018 version. The 1954 version has room to breathe at three hours. I would say maybe too much room. At three hours long, yes. Yeah, but they're cramming a lot of story and even more romance into

the 2018. And it can feel a bit, I think, montagey at moments as a result. There's this interesting line of criticism I have heard that I don't ultimately agree with, but I do think is interesting, which is kind of what Bradley Cooper's character, Jackson Main, asserts at the beginning of the film. There are many, many talented people, and there are very few who have something to say. Almost feels true of him as the director, in a sense, because it's hard to feel what his handwriting or perspective is in the movie, I think, in a way, compared to other autos right now.

Again, I'm not, I don't really fully. I totally don't agree. I don't fully agree with the. either, but I do think it's an interesting line of criticism that I've heard about the movie. I think there's plenty of valid criticism about this movie. We'll get into some of it a little bit. I think one of the most interesting lines of criticism is like, why did they need to remake this? It's been made so many times as we're going to get to. And like, what did this add to that? I think it added a lot. I think that's kind of the extension of the argument I was just making.

Yeah. Well, why do you think Hollywood keeps remaking this movie? I think watching a supernova and then, you know, a star collapse into itself is fascinating. You get a rise story and a fall story in one. There is a kind of beautiful symmetry to where they meet in the middle in both versions. You know, as we watch one person kind of rail against the night and the other person ascend. And I think that in a way, it is comforting to know, this is going to sound very grotesque, but it's comforting to know that there will be room for that next generation

to ride, like the old generation needs to die for the next generation to come up in a weird way. And see, that's so interesting. I think that is every version prior to this version. I agree. This version is very different than that. It is. And I think that's one of the best things that it does with the franchise is that it's not inevitable that he needs to fall in order for her to succeed.

I think that this movie, which is going to go against many articles that I read, but I actually think that this movie and this story from the very beginning has really been Hollywood sort of telling on itself in terms of how weak some of the men in charge are. I think it's a really. interesting portrait of male weakness. And I think that is the case from the very beginning, which is sort of surprising, given when this got started. And I know there's a lot to say that this story is very anti-feminist, and I don't necessarily agree, especially because it seems to have come from a woman, which we will get into. Let's talk about it. Today, we are going to

learn how it took 20 years to make this remake of a remake, of a remake of a maybe also remit. Kind of also, yeah, exactly. Why it might be the best version yet. I know people are going to fight me on this and I don't care. And how everyone from Clint Eastwood to Lars Ulrich, the drummer from Metallica, had a hand in bringing it to life. As always, here is the basic info. A Star is born is directed by Bradley Cooper, written by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fedders, and about a bazillion other people who will get into a little bit, but I'm not going to list out here. The release date was October 5, 2018. The studios were Warner Brothers, an interestingly live nation, amongst some others.

It stars Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Anthony Ramos, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, and more. Here's the IMDB logline. A musician helps a young singer find fame as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral. And tinnitus. That's right. Which they don't do a ton with after they first introduce it. But I think it's an interesting element, but... I thought they actually did a better job tracking the progression of his tinnitus than they did

his alcoholism, just with little moments where he had to lean in and people had to repeat their words to him. That's true. So I actually thought they handled that fairly well. That is true. There's a great moment when he's backstage with Sam Elliott at Saturday Night Live, which I'd never noticed before. But if you watch it carefully, it's clear he can't actually hear what Sam Elliott is saying. And he's responding based on, like, what he's guessing he's saying.

Yeah. There are, you're right. I take it back. There are some very smart elements of that in this. So let's briefly walk through the history of a star is born, because as we mentioned, this is one of the most retold stories in Hollywood history, and it's a big old mess. So it starts all the way back in the silent film era.

The origins are murky, but it allegedly all stems from a story co-written by Hollywood journalist and screenwriter Adela Rogers St. John called The Truth About Hollywood. This is sometime in the late 20s or early 30s, and there are a few real lives that the story appears to draw on. Colleen Moore, a silent film Starlet who put her husband, producer, and publicity man John McCormick in charge of her career for a time only for his alcoholism and jealousy to prevent her from moving into the talkies until everyone else had already gotten their shot.

He apparently attempted suicide by walking into the ocean. He survived. And he was fired from his job for being absolutely publicly wasted. This one is the most likely source for the story, since Moore was personal friends with Adela Rogers, St. John, who wrote the original piece. Barbara Stanwick is another potential inspiration. She went from Chorus Line Girl to Hollywood superstar while her husband descended further into alcoholism and despair. And then there are the potential Jackson or Norman main prototypes, including John Barrymore, John Gilbert, and silent film actor John Bowers, who very sadly did seem to drown himself in the Pacific Ocean when his career went down the toilet.

by the way, we searched high and low for the original story from Adela, but it was absolutely impossible to find. So, listeners, if you know where it is, I would love to read it. Please tell me. So in 1932, we get the first on-screen version of the story, though, of course, it is not called A Star is born. It's called What Price, Hollywood? Which I would argue is not quite as catchy. This is directed by George Kukor and produced by David O'Sullsnik for RKO. Now, we've talked about both of those guys before, particularly in our Gone with the Wind episode. So go give that a listen if you want to learn more about them. What Price Hollywood is based on the story by Adela Rogers, St. John. So we get the really bare bones version here, though it's set in Hollywood, not the music industry. It is not a

musical, nor is it really a romance. The main character is not romantically involved with the drunken lead. She falls for a different asshole, and there's sort of a different trajectory there. So technically, not the beginning of a star's born franchise. However, many similarities, I think, to not consider this the beginning of the IP. Just four years later in 1937, we get the first A Star is Born, and can you guess who it's produced by, Chris? Is it O'Salsnik again? You betcha it's David O'Souselznik, because he's with United Artists now.

And he's like, you know what? Let's do it again. Apparently, he even asked George Kukor to direct, but Kukor declined because the stories were so similar. And O'Slisnick said, let me do some more speed and ask somebody else. He sure did. And William Wellman was like, Sure, let's do it.

So he writes and directs instead. This one stars Janet Gaynor and Friedrich March. Contrary to the plot, Gaynor's career was actually in a downturn, which does mirror Judy Garlands as well, and it was this film that revived it. Now, the details of this are also murky, but it seems RKO explored a plagiarism lawsuit

against Selznick because they were so similar. However, this is where the template for all of the future films is really set. We get the names Norman Maine, later Jackson, Maine in our version, and Esther Blodgett changed to Allie for obvious reasons. My name's so bad, you couldn't make it up. You didn't make it up. Nobody would choose that name. That's a whole running thing in the Judy Garland one. We get the public embarrassment of our starlet at an awards show, and we get the basic story. A struggling actress falls in love with a once successful actor who is struggling with alcohol abuse as her star rises his horse. falls eventually to his death. That's the trajectory we see across the whole series. But this is still not a musical. Got it. It was, however, a big financial success. So naturally in 1954, they decide to

remake it, because why not? Hollywood's never liked original IP. Oselstick finally came down from that last bump. He's like, we gotta go back to the well. One more time. Now, this is a musical, starring Judy Garland and James Mason. This one is produced by Warner Brothers. This is, I think, when Warner Brothers gets a hold of the IP. Now I'm going to gloss over this because honestly, a lot went wrong, and I think it deserves its own episode. 100%.

100% deserves its own. I know a little bit about this one, and it deserves its own episode. It's wild. I was not as familiar with the backstory than this until I started researching it, and I was just like, okay, I'm going to stop. Yeah.

So listeners, if you're interested in a dedicated Judy Star is Born episode, let us know we will make it happen. But here's the brief background. George Cukor comes back to direct. Yep. Ira Gershwin and Harold Arden, write the music. So, Chris, you did watch this one,

and it sounds like you enjoyed it. Very briefly, what was it that you liked about this? There were three things I really liked about this version that were different in the 2018 version. The first is I appreciated that Norman Main's character was a womanizer and a real cad at the beginning of the movie. He's a mess. He's more of a mess.

And they allow him to be frankly kind of more of a piece of shit. And I think that that makes for a more interesting turn when he becomes earnestly invested in Esther Blaget, Judy Garland's career. So I appreciated that as opposed to the 2018 version. I think they do a lot of work to try to really get you to like Jackson right at the beginning of the movie. That's just different sensibilities thing. Yeah, he's appalling at the beginning of this.

Yeah. And I really liked that. And I really like James Mason as an actor. And there's a scene where he's going to pick up women at a bar. And he's like, you know, my last relationship lasted a week, basically. And, you know, who's around that I can pick up? And there's a funny Pasadena reference that I had to look up because I didn't fully understand it. But it was referring to old money.

Anywho, I like that. Second thing, Lady Gaga's remarkable. And I think her acting will get to it is great in this movie. Oh, my God. I forgot how good Judy Garland was, especially as a singer. She's incredible. Wow. Her voice is technically perfect.

I mean, it's remarkable. Yeah. Crazy. So that was two. And then the third thing that we mentioned, I, for some reason, the runtime and the pacing, it allowed me to settle in a little. I know it was long. It was three hours.

But I guess I preferred there's a romanticism to walking into the ocean that I just found very moving. And with the LA setting and whatnot, I thought that worked really well. So those were the things that I really liked about the 54 version. I agree. I think that this version is incredible. I think Judy Garland is really stunning in it, both as an actress and as a singer. We've talked about her before in our Wizard of Oz episode.

If you want to hear that, please go back and listen to it. She had a very, very hard life. By all accounts, she was not well during the filming of this. She'd gotten herself released from her contract with MGM in 1950 and had not made a movie since. She was struggling with substance abuse and a few suicide attempts of her own. She also had some pretty wild weight fluctuations across the film. They had to constantly account for. and made continuity a problem.

She did lose the Oscar to Grace Kelly for the country girl in what's considered one of the biggest snubs ever, and she never really recovered after this. Production was very difficult. Post-production was even worse. We're not going to talk about it, except for one thing.

Chris, did you notice something weird about this film? Yeah, I'll let you explain it, but you'll see when you watch the film, there are basically scenes missing that are filled in with photo montages, and there's a very specific reason for that, and Lizzie, I'm sure you'll... explain why. That is right. There's a lot of missing footage. That's because studio execs cut almost

30 minutes of the film after the premiere without George Kukor's input because they wanted a shorter runtime to sell more screenings. It's something we've talked about in the past. You want to pack as many screenings into each theater as you can. It has been mostly reconstructed the film has, but unfortunately that missing footage has been lost forever, it seems. They have the audio. So they kind of cover it. they almost like storyboard it. Exactly. With production stills, which is pretty clever

and like it works, but it is unfortunate that that's gone. Even though the film was adored by critics and audiences, it did not make money because it had been so expensive behind the scenes. So fast forward to 1976. Hey. Here we go.

Sorry, it's my least favorite one of the four. Yeah. We finally move into the music industry with the absolutely bat-shit bonkers Barbara Streisand and Chris Christopherson version. Yeah, we can just, we can kind of zip along this one. We keep going. Nothing to see here, folks.

Again, produced by Warner Brothers. It does win an Oscar for Best Original Song for Evergreen. And it's a song. I don't know. Listen. Listen, Barbara, Barbara's great. Yeah. But it's not her best.

I think it's, if you look at it as like a stepping stone to the 2018 version, right? It gets you part of the way there, if that makes sense. I think it's easier to appreciate. Yeah, it has a lot of similarities to the 2018 version, including he sees her at a nightclub while looking for a drink after his gig, although this is a connection to previous versions because he always finds her at an after hours club. He brings her on stage for her big break. After he drives his car off the road and dies in this version, she performs at his

memorial service singing a song that he wrote for her. Of course, we see that again here. And she does introduce herself with his surname at that memorial, although again, that's something that actually all of the versions do. So I would argue that, yes, there are a lot of similarities. I think the biggest thing is that it moves us into the music industry instead of Hollywood. But I think it really is just building off of existing stars-born franchise tropes and kind of translating them. People do love this version.

God bless you, if you like this one, it is something and it did very well at the box office. That's all I'm going to say about that. And didn't this one also kind of established, wasn't John Peter as a producer, on this movie, and I believe that it's kind of what broke him in. Yeah, we're going to get to John Peters. You'll see his name in the credits of the 2018 version as well. Which we will talk about. That caused some not great press for it.

Yes, if you're not familiar who John Peters is, he was a very famous Hollywood hairstylist, who eventually became a big producer. I believe the film Shampoo was loosely based on him, and he was Barbara Streisand's partner during this time, among many other things. So we've got to consistently commercially successful and sometimes critically successful IP.

Chris, what does Hollywood do next? Make it again. That's right. Make it again. But first, put it in development hell. Yeah, I was going to say, we're finally at the Gaga and Cooper version, except we're not because it has to go through 20 years of development. So as early as 1999, there are mentions in the trades of a fourth version of a star is

born that has been germinating. Warner Brothers began developing the film with Carl Franklin, director at At that point, he directed one false move, devil in a blue dress, and one true thing, among some other things. And they had a very specific actor in mind to play their leading role. Chris, do you know who it is? I will tell you, age-wise, doesn't make a ton of sense because he's only about 31 at this point. 31. Is this a musical version, or is it a...

Yes. Jamie Fox? He's going to come in later. It's not him right now. All right. That would have been too early. I don't know. Who?

Will Smith. Oh, you know what's funny? I swear to God, I was considering Will Smith. And I was like, but he doesn't sing. He raps. It could have been a rapping, Norman Maine. You don't know. I agree.

That was Chris being prejudicial. I should not have made that assumption. That's right. They're also courting Lauren Hill to be the lead. Oh. She would have been good. Very good. So Smith eventually passes to play Muhammad Ali in Ali.

Probably a good move as that really transitioned him into a more serious actor. And he's very good in that. With Jamie Fox. Yes. And it's funny you should mention Mr. Fox because by 2000, we have moved on to Jamie Fox teaming up with Oliver Stone for a star is born. Okay, that sounds like a fun version of the movie. What would this have been like?

It's also a conspiracy theory movie about how Hollywood is run by the guys who assassinated JFK. Honestly, I would watch it. Wilde entertaining. Love Oliver Stone. They had just teamed up for any given Sunday, which obviously was a big hit. I love any given Sunday. It's so ridiculous. They actually had a finished script for this one. I think they got pretty far. Wow.

But no leading lady. So Fox goes after Lauren Hill again. But this time, she won't even pick up the phone for them to the point where Fox said he felt like a stalker because he was showing up at her concerts and tracking her moves. At one point, she finally said, quote, you're making me nervous. So Fox drops it saying, I guess she's busy with her children.

Leave her alone. Leave her alone. She doesn't want to do this. I love getting that message. It's like, making me nervous and he's like, I guess she's busy with her kids. And you're like, that's what you draw from it. So he turns to another major R&B hitmaker at the time for the lead role.

Alia. Oh, with Queen of the Damned. That's right. She was filming Queen of the Damned at the time. She expressed interest in the project and was excited to read the script. But on August 25, 2001, she tragically died in a plane crash at the age of 22 years. years old. Yeah.

This seems to be where Fox and Stone kind of lose interest and drop the project. But Warner Brothers will never give this up. And so, sometime around 2002, Will Smith reenters the picture. This time he's teaming up with director Joel Schumacher, and the two of them are courting Jennifer Lopez for the lead. I like it. They want to base it in the world of Latin music. Fun.

I mean, she's great in Selena. According to a 2018 interview with J-Lo, they got pretty serious about this and discussed the script quite a bit, but the project never took off, and they all went their separate ways. Well, she went to Gilee. Oops. Sorry. Just saying. Timing lines up. Yeah.

So next, the Star is born lays dormant for eight years, like the ring of power lying in wait for Gallum to snatch it up. And this time our slimy cave dweller is Nick Casavetes. Wow. Okay. Director. Yeah. He just directed John Q. The Notebook and Alpha Dog. I know. It's always wild to me that a Cassavetes directed the notebook. Nothing wrong with it. It's just not the combo you would have expected. No. Also, John Q, the notebook plus Alpha Dog doesn't necessarily equal a stars born to me, but I guess it could. Why not? Sure. In January of 2010, it's announced that he is in early talks to join the project, mostly because of how much he liked to draft by, writer Will Fetters. So I think this is the first time that we are seeing the earliest iteration of the actual 2018 version we wind up with. And again, this is 2010. So Casavetes is interested in a leading lady who apparently had been in discussion before as well. And that is who, Chris. I haven't mentioned

her yet, but you did. I mentioned her. You did. Mariah Carey, Beyonce. There we go. The Queen be herself. I just wanted to be Mariah Carey. It's never Mariah Carey. They've seen glitter. So Alicia Keys and Rihanna are both under consideration too, as are Robert Downey Jr. and John Hamm. What is this movie? I actually think Robert Downey Jr. Alicia Keys would have been really interesting. That's true. I could maybe see that. I think Robert Downey Jr. as the quick-talking, extremely charming, self-destructive, alcoholic, I mean, God, the guy could draw on his own past with substance abuse.

That's true. I think that'd be. And I think Alicia Keys is extremely magnetic. I think they would be really interesting opposite one another. She is. My understanding is that she kind of withdrew herself from the running because she felt like this was maybe a little too close to some of her own experiences. And so she was just like, nah, I don't want to do something sort of within the music industry like this.

Fair. But by February, Chris, and this is my favorite pairing of the whole episode, another actor emerged as the front runner. I just can't. I just, I was like crying, laughing, trying to imagine what this. I feel bad for whoever this is. Don't. He's fine. Okay.

It is, of course. Jesus. Sorry. Russell Crow. Oh, my God. Yes. This would be, I would love this movie. I love Russell Crow.

Wait. And it would have been so fun. It was going to be Russell Crow opposite Beyonce as director. by the director of the notebook. This sounds great. I love it. And give Russell Crow an Italian accent and a Vespa. Oh.

Like, this sounds great. Absolutely. This was his turn towards the pre-sexorcist 20 years earlier. I think, look, Russell Crow is an amazing actor. I love him. As we learned in La Miserables. He is not the strongest singer, I think, by his own admission. so that makes it a little unusual if it's got the musical angle.

And I think what we learned about Beyonce and Austin Powers is she's an incredible singer and she's not the strongest actress. I agree. So I think this would have been a very dangerous pairing on screen. I think so too. Yeah, I mean, listen, Beehive, please don't come after us. I think she's an absolutely incredible performer, musician, businesswoman, everything. I've seen Dreamgirls.

I've seen Austin Powers. She's not amazing as an actress. And like, especially opposite Russell Crow, it just would have been so weird. That being said, give it to me right now. Yeah, exactly. I want to mainline this. Yes. But by January of 2011, Cassavetes has exited stage right and the project has been picked up by a much more massive director.

And that is because Glen Eastwood has hopped on board. The Star is born train. Nice. Will Feders has stayed on as a screenwriter. And Beyonce has managed to stay on as the star. Now, I think Beyonce with a stronger director, maybe, and a stronger lead. Because obviously she's... You're saying Beyonce with Mr. You Get Two Takes, Clint Eastwood, is going to be the right fit.

All right, maybe not. That's true. That's true. Nope, moving on. Oh, boy. And he is pursuing a whole new actor for the lead role. You got to get this one, right? Chris, who do you think this is?

I have no context. He doesn't date anybody over the age of 25. Leonardo DiCaprio. There you go. Can he sing? I don't know. Probably not. Now, you mentioned this before, but controversial Hollywood producer, John Peters, is set

to be one of the producers on this. He was Barbara's boyfriend, like I said, and his involvement in the franchise will come with controversy later on. Also, it seems that it's around this time that Live Nation starts to express interest in being a part of the film as producers, though they don't. come fully on board until later, too. Around 2011 or 2012, Eastwood approaches Bradley Cooper for the role of the aging rock star. That's a lot earlier than I would have expected.

Yeah. That's, I guess that's a few years removed from wedding crashers, and it must be post-first hangover? Yes. So, we can breathe the sigh of relief because we've almost made it to our final version. Just kidding, because Bradley Cooper turns it down. He was only 38 at the time and correctly. felt that he was too young to pull it off, which I think is right. I agree.

By 2012, the project was dead again, with Beyonce and Clinise would unable to line up their schedules, according to Beyonce. Producer Bill Gerber blamed it on her being pregnant, saying, quote, there was a moment where that was the best version of the movie, and then all of a sudden, Beyonce got pregnant. Do we wait? And then she decided to have a family. That bitch. Do we wait for Beyonce?

I don't know, maybe. What? he does acknowledge that she was amazing about it saying, quote, she always understood if we were going to take a different direction. And then Clint went off and did another movie. Okay, so was that the problem? No, and we're being uncharitable. They're both impossible, yeah.

Of course. And the other folks involved, I'm sure, are pouring their lives into trying to get this thing made. And here you have two people, it's trying to get the planets to align. You know, they have enormous gravitational pulls. So I understand the frustration. I don't mean to belittle their concerns. No, it's just, it's a funny quote. I'm sorry, Bill Gerber.

I set you up to fail there. Yeah. The movie that Clint left for was likely American sniper, which of course stars are one true Jackson, Maine, Bradley Cooper. There we go. While working on the film, it seems like Cooper expressed interest in directing, something he had long dreamed of,

and discussed reviving a star is born as the director himself with Clint. They saw Annie Lennox perform, I put a spell on you. And this slid a fire under Cooper's butt. He woke up the next day called Greg Silverman, the head of Warner Brothers at the time, and asked to pitch him a crazy idea. And it was the way that he saw a Star is Born, how he felt the camera moving, everything. So Silverman said, okay, go write it.

In 2015, Clint Eastwood announced he is officially passing the Stars Born Torch to Bradley Cooper, who will make his directorial debut with the film. So, finally, let's get a little background on Bradley Cooper. He was born in 1975 in Abington Township, Pennsylvania. You mentioned the tinnitus. He actually was born with coliastiaoma, a growth in the middle ear that causes deafness and had to have an operation right away. Later, when he began diving, he punctured his eardrum and had to have four to five surgeries between the ages of five and 18 to try to fix it, but he still has a hole in his eardrum. He studied English and French and undergrad, made a brief television debut in 1999 on Sex and the City.

and then famously attended the actor's studio at the new school where he received his MFA. I say famously, because there are several clips of Cooper asking questions to actors like Sean Penn and Robert De Niro on YouTube and TikTok. Yeah, I've seen the De Niro once. He makes his film debut in Wet Hot American Summer in 2001. He's very good. He's very funny. And then breaks out even more with the role of Will Tippen on Ailius.

It's on the second season of Alius, however, that Cooper hits a low point in his career. He was frustrated that his role had been severely diminished between the first and second seasons of the show. He was also struggling with drug and alcohol abuse at the time and spiraled into a depression where he started to think that he wanted to kill himself. He told the Hollywood reporter that once, quote, I was at a party and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor, like, hey, look how tough I am. And I came up and blood dripped down, and then I did it again. I spent the night at St. Vincent's Hospital with a sock of ice waiting for them to stitch me up. Against the advice of all of his friends, he asked J.J. Abrams to write him off the show, even though he had no other job prospects lined up. Abrams did, and fortunately by 2004, Cooper at age

29, got and stayed sober. You mentioned this, but it is Wedding Crashers in 2005 that really puts him on the map, and then 2009's The Hangover that makes him a bona fide star. Around 2012, he starts to take on more dramatic roles in place beyond the pines, and of course Silver Linings playbook for which he was nominated for an Oscar. So now with Clint Eastwood's blessing, Cooper begins working on the script, but he still needs a star. Prior to Lady Gaga entering the picture, he did go back to a familiar well and pitched Beyonce on the project. He got sign off from Greg Silberman to go for her if he made the movie for under $25 million. That feels like just her fee, so I don't know how that was going to say...

That was possibly going to work. Yeah. That's probably why he set that. bar at $25 million, basically like, if we could get Beyonce, or if we could get her to do it for a song, that would be a huge win for the studio. Beyonce at $25 million, you're going to make money. Yeah, but there's no, like, why would she do that?

She can command so much more than that. Well, and she, her doesn't seem like her interest is acting anyway, so there's not much of a carrot there. I don't know about that. I actually think she was invested in this, the idea of making this movie. She was very courteous. I guess I'm saying it didn't seem like she had like, Dreams of Oscar glory and you know what I'm saying in the way that maybe she did in the music industry.

I don't know. Dream girls might, I think she had her eye on something. All right, fair. Apparently she was very courteous. Cooper went to her house to pitch her on it. This is one of my favorite facts in the entire thing. Jay-Z was in the background watching Judge Judy the entire time. Good on you, Jay-C. Yeah. Bradley Cooper was freaking out and said that he had a weird, nervous little cough that he couldn't shake the whole time because he's trying to pitch Beyonce on a Star is born with Judge Judy playing in the background. Despite all of this, it seems like she was again interested and they developed it for

kind of a long time, like maybe almost a year before it fell through. Wow. Next, he approached Adele, who only texted him back once to say she was busy. I'm busy. I'm busy. Good for her. New phone. Who does?

My cockney, Adele. Apologies Adele. Finally, in 2016, Cooper attended a benefit concert in Sean Parker's backyard, where he saw one Stephanie Germanata, aka lady. Gaga perform and he knew he had found his alley. Guess what song she sang? Lavi and Rose? Yes. Oh, good job, Chris. One guest correct this whole episode. He did it. Let's talk about Lady Gaga. Stephanie Germanado was born in New York City in 1986. She describes herself as an outcast and misfit throughout school, but she was incredibly talented musically from a very young age, starting to study piano at four.

In 2003, she gained early admission to NYU's Tisch School for the Arts in CAP-21, which I want to mention is an acting and musical theater program. Remember that. But just two years later withdrew to focus on music full-time. I also started studying piano at four. And I podcast. I'll let Gaga explain this transition into music herself in this interview with SAG AFRA. I've been thinking a lot about this recently. And I think that because I always want to I wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a singer. You know, I studied at the Lee Strasbourg Institute. I did some Meisner, I did some Adler,

I went to circle in the square for a little while. You know, I kind of had it in me, and I've over the years created characters for myself because I could not get a job as an actress. So I became a musician that acted as well. Makes sense. sense. I mean, her performances are very much a persona. Yeah. That is Gaga speaking at a sag after Q&A, by the way. And I play that because, like, she's rattling off some of the best acting

training that you can possibly get. So I'll just leave that there. She's exceptional as an actress in the movie. She doesn't feel like an amateur. She does not feel raw in the way that you might expect a musician to feel. She's extremely natural. It's clear they have a good rapport and chemistry as well. But even her scenes with Andrew Dice Clay, who I really like as her father, are really charming. And she, again, just feels like very comfortable and she can hold her own with anybody in the movie. Yeah, I agree. I think she's amazing, both as an actor and a singer in this. Unfortunately, the next thing that happens to Stephanie is very upsetting. Sometime around the age of 19, she was raped by a music producer, something that led to a psychotic break and has caused her years of PTSD and physical pain, which led to self-harm and some drug abuse.

She has chosen not to ever name this person, so we're not going to do any speculating. I mention it because I do think it's important that both Gaga and Cooper had extensive personal experience with trauma, substance abuse, and depression. Just three years later, in 2008, she became a household name as Lady Gaga with her album The Fame, featuring hits like Pokerface and Just Dance. By 2015, she was one of the most successful artists in the world. By 2016, she earned her first Oscar nomination for co-writing the original song from The Hunting Ground with Diane Warren. Also in 2016, she won a Golden Globe for her performance on American Horror Story Hotel. I'm telling you all of this, just to make it very clear that she was not exactly untested as an actress

by the time a star is born came around. She was also bigger than Bradley Cooper in terms of international cue. rating by a mile at this point. Yes. So naturally, the studio took one look at Lady Gaga and said, I don't know. What's that? What's her name? Lady.

They said, we'll see. Do a screen test. And not just a screen test for at that point six-time Grammy winning artist Gaga, but a screen test for her and Academy Award nominated actor Bradley Cooper. So, Chris, how unusual is that for people of their stature? And this is not a chemistry. This is like to get it greenlit. I don't know is the short answer.

I've never been involved with a project of this scale, obviously. Normally what I've heard of is that if they had a number of actresses or performers, right, they were down to three. And they were like, well, let's get Cooper on screen with all three and let's see how they do. But if it's more, if they're really just saying like, well, we need to see her chops. Yeah. That seems more unusual. And I guess the question would be, would they have done the same thing with beyond.

And we don't know the answer to that. It doesn't seem likely. Oh, I don't think so. I think they were fully on board for her. They were fully on board to sign her on. Which is interesting, because as you mentioned, Gaga definitely has more experience, although I guess she has a technically thinner on-screen resume in the sense that if she just had American Horror Story, there was less footage for them to see. And that's also such a heightened, campy, stylistic show. Sure. And all of her theatrical performances are also very heightened, very campy. So that's a good point. But Bradley Cooper, did not initially want to do this because this felt like a bit of a slap in the face. She's bigger than him, and I think he's probably very smart about that and realizes, like, this is a get if we can get her. Also, Clint Eastwood was not sure that Gaga was going to be right for the role. This is something I don't understand throughout this whole thing.

So many people were like, we're not sure she makes sense. And I don't get it because, like, I remember when they announced this and hearing that she was the lead in this was the most appealing part of going to go see this movie. Yeah, I'm trying to think of a reason other than a lot of the reasons that they write into the film that are actually so compelling when she discusses her nose, the way she looks. She's also, I know, I guess, what, she's technically a mezzo-soprano, but she has a huskier, I would argue, like, speaking voice. She's, does she really have, like, a Long Island, like, kind of accent? Yeah, I think so. She's, I mean, she's an Italian-American woman from Manhattan.

She feels a little rough around the edges in a way that works so perfectly in the movie, but maybe the studio thought, oh, she's not really polished, you know, how is she going to peel on screen? I don't know. I don't know either. I think perhaps part of it is that she had made a career out of, you know, not quite looking like herself, which was intentional because as she's spoken about a lot, you know, she had a hard time with people giving her shit for her looks, even though she is beautiful. I didn't really know what she looked like until I saw this movie.

A lot of people have said that. And I get it, but at the same time, could you really not be willing to see beyond that or underneath it to give her a chance to do something else? But they did, so that's good. Eventually, Bradley Cooper decides to take it in stride and treat it as his first chance to really direct. So he writes 10 pages of dialogue, calls up Lady Gaga, and they agree to shoot the screen test at her house. They also very casually call upon Janush Kaminsky to shoot it. He had worked with her on her Alejandro video. Great video.

He's only Steven Spielberg's DP since Chinler's list, so no big deal. So much of what you see in this movie is the two of them calling in massive, massive favors. You can watch some of the footage from the screen test online. It looks gorgeous. Cooper didn't really have the character of Jackson Main created at this point, and you can see from the footage, he looks very clean cut, not so leathery, and he has a little earring, which he swiftly realized was a mistake. Now much has been made of Bradley Cooper wiping off Gaga's makeup at this screen test. Here's how the LA Times describes it. She walked downstairs, and there he was, staring at her.

He stepped toward her, examined her face, concealer, mascara, rouge. Take it off, Bradley Cooper told Lady Gaga. She noticed something in his hand. It was a makeup wipe. With it, he errant. Hold on. I thought he was going to have something else in the fan. That's the way you're talking.

Hold on. This is my audition for smutty audiobooks. Great. With it, he erased the colors from her forehead down to her chin. But he left her neck. Oh, God. Left a real weird line at her chin. His journalist is an incredible fanfic writer.

So, in reality, the scene he had written featured Allie just waking up in bed, and Cooper correctly assumed that she would not have slept in her makeup. I just want to say, thank you, Bradley Cooper. That's one of my least favorite things that I see in movies is when women wake up fully made up. You don't do that. You would have fucked up skin if you did that. So when she showed up fully made up,

he realized it wasn't going to read right. And he asked if he could wipe the makeup off because she wouldn't have gone to bed with it. Which, of course, mirrors a famous scene from the 1954 version where Norman Maine, not so sweetweed. No, smears cold cream all over her face, yeah. And basically it says, you look like a clown, honey, as he interrupts the makeup off of Judy-Garland series.

Yeah, he's like, you're stained in a chair about an hour too long. Yeah, it's a very funny scene. I really liked it. But, yeah, it's not quite as romantic. I do honestly think if he hadn't done this, the studio might not have gone for it. I know that sounds dumb, but like to what we were just talking about, she doesn't look like Lady Gaga. She is wearing nothing. She has no makeup on.

I think that was really important. And I think he knew that. This also feels like sort of the beginning of this romanticization of the two of them that we see throughout the rest of the press tour. Yeah, I remember their performance at the Oscars, right? Of course. They got to Google eyes at each other. It's fine. Yeah. But again, this moment, not quite as sassy as it was portrayed in this article. I think that's just how all women look at Bradley Cooper.

My wife was watching a star is born. I was like, we need to turn this off. This is not fun. He's the only Jackson Main who is actually attractive. He's very attractive. So the screen test does the trick in Warner Brothers Greenlights the film. It also does the trick for Gaga, who realized how badly she wanted the part after this experience. And part of that may have been realizing that Cooper actually could sing. Here she is talking about that moment on the Graham Norton show.

And then he wanted to sing with me, a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Midnight Special. So I was playing it on the piano when he started to sing, and I was like, oh my gosh, your voice. I was blown away by him. I mean, he just, he sings from his soul. He sings from his gut. And when he sings, he's a storyteller. And I was just so moved by his passion, you know, for, for music and for this film. And quite frankly, it was him that had to convince other people to have me in the movie, not anyone trying to convince me. I mean, he really fought for me. Quite a compliment. This video of them singing Midnight Special was a big part of what the God's

the film fully greenlit, along with the screen test. So in August of 2016, she's announced as the lead. Now, she wasn't the only actor that Cooper had his heart set on from the beginning. He had always had Sam Elliott in mind for the role of his older brother, Bobby, so much so that he actually based Jackson Main's voice on Sam Elliott's natural speaking voice and had been working with a vocal coach on it for months. To get Sam Elliott on board, Cooper played him a tape of himself doing Sam Elliott's voice. It was an interview. Elliot had given it Sundance a few years earlier. but again it was Cooper doing all the dialogue. Fortunately, this didn't creep Sam Elliott out, and he signed on.

I bet you he was just like, God damn. Sounds just like me. You're a good, man. I'll do your picture. All right. Andrew Dice Clay was cast as Allie's father after a chance encounter with Bradley Cooper at the Trubidor. Apparently, Dice Clay said, by the way, you were good an American sniper. It was good, those snipes.

Those are good snipes you did. His agent sent an email to Todd Phillips, also a producer on this film, saying that Dice was a weirdly good ass. actor. And that was enough to get him a meeting and he got the part. He is a weirdly good actor. He's very natural. I liked him. Hamilton star Anthony Ramos was cast as Ali's best friend, Ramon. I think he's great in this. I know it's a small part. He's always, he's always super fun. Dave Chappelle apparently took quite a bit of convincing to take the part. He had met Bradley Cooper

briefly in London, but was surprised when Cooper showed up unannounced to Chappelle's annual barn party in Ohio. Cooper then called him every two days after that to get him on board. and Chappelle said that he agreed mostly to get Bradley Cooper to stop calling him. It's the old Jamie Fox to Lauren Hill tactic. Yeah. And I will not do my Dave Chappelle impression right now. We'll hear from him a little later. He also said Cooper sent in the script and he never read it because he, quote,

didn't know the shit was going to be good. I love this. That checks out. It's a running thing with Dave Chappelle throughout the entire press stories. He actually had never seen the movie, I think, until the TIF premiere. And afterwards, he was like, wait a minute. this is the best thing I've ever been in. I was seeing this?

It's very surprised. It was time to polish the script that Cooper and Will Fetter's had been writing. Now, I had a hard time finding exactly why the studio wanted another writer brought on. The best I can tell is they thought that it needed a general polish. And it seems like Cooper did agree. That being said, I think the rewrite that happens may have been pretty substantial given the actual co-writing credit that the writer got. So they bring on veteran screenwriter Eric Roth.

He's written, Forrest Gump, Munich, The Insider, Dune Part 1, Killers of the Flower Moon. If I were to guess, the script was too long. That would make sense. And they brought Eric Roth in because he has, across his career, handled very unwieldy narratives. Every movie you just mentioned, two plus hours. That's true. Covering massive amounts of time, Forrest Gump, for example. And I wonder if it was, hey, come in here.

Let's get the page count down. let's streamline some of these sequences. How can we keep the pacing up? You know what I mean? Without hitting a three-hour movie. That does make sense. In addition to being an excellent screenwriter, he's also a self-proclaimed curmudgeon

who does not like to visit set, uses a now-defunct screenwriting software called Movie Master that's completely incompatible with email and only has so many pages of memory, he says, and he had no problem doling out some pretty harsh criticism to Cooper. They had their share of prickly, moments throughout, but Roth says that's just a part of the process. He's also 73 years old,

and he had eight weeks to do this rewrite. That being said, it sounds like he and Cooper did find a rhythm. Evidently, neither of them sleep very much, so they just stayed up all night for eight weeks texting each other ideas, and they wound up with something that they were happy with. Also, Gaga asked him what characters she should look for inspiration in, and he pointed her to share in Moonstruck, which I think comes through. Oh, I love Moonstruck. One of my favorite movies of all time. It's a great movie. Some very due credit to Bradley Cooper here. It sounds like he was really the driving force behind making everything so conversational in this movie. Some of the dialogue is obviously improvised, but a lot is written very naturally. It was also his idea to have her sing the prelude

somewhere over the rainbow at the top of the film as an ode to Judy. But of course, Chris, this is a musical. So the script wasn't the only thing they needed to write. They got to write some songs. So Cooper and Gaga looped in the best of the best. The most major player on the soundtrack outside of Gaga herself is probably Lucas Nelson. If you don't know, he is Willie Nelson's son. He has his own band The Promise of the Reel. Cooper

saw him at Desert Trip and immediately wanted him on board. He actually played Lucas Nelson, the recording of himself and Gaga singing Midnight Special, which is what got Nelson on board. They ended up working together on the music for over a year before filming. He also worked together with Lady Gaga, very well

to the point where she sang on a few tracks on his album as well. Nelson, you will notice, appears on camera in the film. Did you know this, Chris? No, I noticed a different member of the crew during a specific scene. Maddie Libetique, the cinematographer, plays the photographer when she's getting her head shots done. I wasn't going to mention it, but what a lovely cameo. No, so Lucas Nelson is the guitarist in Jackson Main's band. Oh, very cool. And his entire band is the promise of the real. It is Lucas Nelson's band. I had no idea. Yeah.

So even though Bradley Cooper did learn how to play guitar, pretty damn well prior to the film, the guitar you're hearing is not him. It is Lucas Nelson playing. Out of 18 songs on the soundtrack, Gaga's credited as a writer or co-writer on 13 of them. Cooper co-wrote three. Lucas Nelson co-wrote almost all the songs in the soundtrack with a notable exception of Shallow and a few others. Now, one of the only songs with only one credited writer is maybe it's time, the song that Jackson sings in the drag bar

and then again later on stage that becomes kind of like one of his main staples. Yeah, maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Very pretty song. It's written by Jason Isbell, who's one of my favorite musicians of all time.

It sounds very much like a Jason Isbell song. I thought it might be a real song when I, it's probably, it feels like maybe the most fully baked, if that makes sense of all the songs in the soundtrack.

And all the songs are great. Don't get me wrong. Yeah. So Isabel was contacted by his producer Dave Cobb who was working with Cooper on the movie. And Jason Isbell's initial response was, quote, no, Dave, I don't have time for that shit. And he went back to hanging out with Dave Chappelle. But his wife was like, you're an idiot, write this song for this movie. So he very begrudgingly wrote maybe it's time and sent it off to Cooper. Cooper sent back a demo to Isbell and Isbell was scared to

listen because he figured Bradley Cooper must suck at singing. But when he finally listened, he was very impressed, and he told Cooper so I'll let Jason Isbell explain how this went down. He's a good-looking fella. Normally, if you're that handsome, you don't really have to learn how to sing. But he went through the process of learning how to sing, and he sent me a recording of this. Then I didn't listen to it because I thought, well, man, if this sucks, I'm not, I don't know if I can call him and be like, yeah, I'm sorry, Bradley. This sucks. I don't want you money.

You voice sounds like ass. So I didn't listen to it. I waited for a few hours. I didn't know that he actually cared about my opinion until much later he was doing an interview when the movie premiered. And he said he was sitting there staring at his phone for like five hours, he was sweating his ass.

I don't know if he's going to let me use the song. He might not like my voice. But luckily he did a good job. It's got to be something he's bad at. I like Jason Nesbel. That's very funny. He's great. Previous Gaga collaborators Mark Ronson, DJ White Shadow, and Hillary Lindsay were also brought on to write. Ronson, of course, co-wrote shallow, along with some others.

So in April of 2017, principal photography begins. Roth, who again famously hated being on set, seems to have broken his rule for this and kept writing through production. It did take Lady Gaga a little bit to loosen up. She's such a hard worker and she showed up to set with all of her lines completely memorandum. memorized. So on the first day of shooting, Cooper immediately went off book to try and get her to loosen up, and she was so confused that she just started repeating her line back to him over and over again, and he asked her if she was okay. And she burst into tears. But she got over it very quickly, and he said that her learning curve just from day one to day two was absolutely

crazy. You mentioned this, but he brought on legendary cinematographer Matthew Libetique on a recommendation from Jennifer Lawrence. He's probably best known for being Darren Aronovsky's go-to cinematographer on everything from Requiem for a Dream to Black Swan. Also, has done a ton of music videos, so he makes a lot of sense for this. Early on, Cooper discussed the way that he saw the film being shot, all from the stage and from the performer's perspective. He got the idea from a Metallica concert where he was behind, Lars Ulrich's drum kit, seeing the sweat drip off of him and realizing how crazy it was to be really on the stage with this level of performer.

Libateek and Cooper also turned to iconic concert films like The Last Waltz, and stop making sense for inspiration on how to shoot the scenes. Chris, what do you think about the cinematography in this movie? I think it's beautiful. I think it's very naturalistic. I think at first it almost feels a little disorienting because it's anamorphic super widescreen in like the first shots and you're kind of wheeling around, you know, the stage with them.

But then what you realize or what I realized is that, oh, we're drunk like him. And I think that's what the cinematography does so well in the movie is that it really grounds you in the perspectives of these two characters and in their worlds. And it feels very naturalistic in the same way that I think the performances do. And Lizzie, as you mentioned, the dialogue does. So I think it works incredibly well across the movie. Yeah. I think it's one of the best parts of this movie.

I think the choice to film all of the music and concert scenes exclusively from the stage, never from the audience's perspective, is really smart. And is something that we haven't really, seen in this kind of film before, I don't think. Speaking of the concert scenes, they were one of the most challenging aspects to film. Not only are they singing live the whole way through, which Lady Gaga insisted on, several of the scenes were shot at real festivals. The opening scene...

I was wondering. This is crazy. So the opening scene with Jackson Main, you mentioned this, we're sort of reeling. It's very fast. There is a reason for that. It's because it was shot at stagecoach in the eight minutes between Jamie Johnson and Willie Nelson's sets. That's it.

Wow. Producer Bill Gerber called up Willie Nelson's manager, and apparently Nelson said, Our stage is your stage. Probably helped that his son was playing in the band. I was going to say, hey, we got your kid a job.

You want to help us out? So they also shot at Glastonbury, right before, of all people, Chris Christofferson's set. This one is nuts, so much so that Maddie Libetique turned to an unusual camera operator. The night before they were going to go on,

Metallica drummer, Lars Ulrich, he's back, offered himself as a camera operator if they needed him. And Lib Attique was like, what? No. Why would I do that? But the day of, they learned that they didn't have 10 minutes like they thought, they had three minutes. So he was like, Lars, you're on. Here you go, buddy. You're going to take this camera and you're going to come on after me.

So you are seeing the work of camera operator Lars Ulrich in that scene. Wow. Gaga was headlining Coachella that year, so they used the days between her sets to capture more. I believe this is always remember us this way and some other moments as well. This is not a real Coachella audience. Those are extras. I also don't know this, but I think in those massive, massive Coachella scenes, my guess is that a lot of the crowd was added in post because I don't think you would call in that many extras. I would assume so. They also shot at the Virgil for her opening number in the drag bar, the Greek theater for her first performance of Shallow.

Excuse me. Shah, hello. And the Shrine Auditorium for the final scene, which is also where Judy taped the man that got away from her version. Another nod to the Judy Garland one. A sad note about this final scene right before filming it, Gaga learned that her longtime friend was close to losing their battle with cancer. So she snuck off set and drove an hour to try and say goodbye, only to find out that she had actually missed her friend's death by 10 minutes. She drove straight back to set, and they shot, I'll never love again, in one take. Wow.

Cooper would stay in character while directing scenes where Jackson was the most shit-faced. And here is Dave Chappelle at Tiff, describing a little bit of what that was like. Literally, we would be just sitting before a take, and he would just talk to me about a scene. We would talk about the relationship with the characters. We would talk about, you know, what things were about,

and then I would see that Bradley was slurring his words, and then as we were talking about it, oh, shit, we're shooting. But for me I never really had much interest in being a movie actor but if I were a movie actor it'd be really hard to work with any other director

because he's so sensitive to the emotional content of the characters and the people that are portraying the characters It was amazing to see. I will remind Mr. Chappelle of his incredible turn in Conair. That's right. Which is one of my favorite films he's ever been in.

So he is a movie actor. He is a movie actor. And half-baked. That's right. Great film. So Cooper used menthol to make his eyes bloodshot and watery. He also got a self-tan every other day. He does look.

My one thought, the first scene when he's in the drag bar because of the way it's lit, he looks like purple. So, oh, he looks like he is dying of, what is the colloidal silver that people take? The love has one disease. Yeah, yeah. They think it's a medicinal and they turn purple. Yeah. Yeah, he does.

He is positively radioactive in that first scene. I love it. Good for him. Yeah. In total, they shot for only about 42 days, which I think is... It's very quick. Yeah, very quick for the scale of this. Absolutely.

Now, I couldn't find a ton about post-production, but it sounds like Cooper had quite a lot of time, which it was both a blessing and a curse. Libetique referenced seeing at least five different cuts of the film, with Cooper focusing more and more intently on the love story each time, to your point, I think they were just chopping this farther and farther down. Libetique told the American cinematographer, quote, while, it's like one of those situations on top chef, put your knives down. Yeah. But he also spoke extremely highly of Cooper, saying he's a great leader because he encourages everyone to think.

That is consistent across every interview I saw with every cast and crew member on this, is that I think Bradley Cooper does what we've seen in all the best directors, which is that he hires people he trusts and then he actually listens to them. I will say it's such a tradeoff because I do think that the love story is very easy to track in this one, much easier to track in earlier than in earlier versions. Yeah. The professional, in particular, fall of Jackson, Maine is very hard to track, I would argue, in this one. You know what? That doesn't bother me because he doesn't, he doesn't actually fall professionally necessarily. Like, he is not, he's not a flop at the top of this, which I think is interesting. No, but I think they're implying that he does, you know, he does the

sellout show. That's true. Where he's playing, like a pharmaceutical conference or something like that. And then he obviously is booked, he believes, to sing at the Grammys, but then it's effectively to play rhythm guitar, you know, to a Roy Orbison impersonator or something like that. And my point is those scenes are played for aftermath as opposed to for cause. And I agree with you. I think they struck a great balance. However, in the earlier versions, you get more of that downward spiral professionally than you do here. And I wonder if those scenes are on the cutting room floor. Definitely. are. A stars born premiered at Venice Film Festival August 31st, 2018 to rave reviews, and opened wide October 5th of 2018. I mentioned Live Nation earlier. As far as I understand it, their involvement was more around promo and release than it was securing concert venues for filming. They put the trailer in front of thousands of music fans at live events like Lollapalooza, and then, this is a bit creepy, they used Ticketmaster to send emails to anyone who had brought

Lady Gaga tickets for her most recent tour. They didn't even stop there. They also targeted Dave Chappelle fans and even Bruno Mars fans because Mark Ronson had co-written Uptown Funk. It worked. This movie made so much money on a relatively modest budget of around $36 million. Again, this was a lot of favors called in. It made over $430 million worldwide. Crazy successful. Yes.

While there was some valid criticism of the film's treatment of addiction and also its depiction of pop music as seemingly soulless, that's actually my biggest problem with the whole thing. is sort of what Allie turns into, and that that is played as negative in sunlights of this. Well, I think it's tough. It's like they're trying to, I don't know, I was trying to think of a contemporary, and I think it almost feels like they compressed Taylor Swift's entire two-decade career

into a, like, six-month trajectory, which is why it feels a little rushed. It also reminded me of the, I don't know if it's apocryphal or not, but the story of how Florence in the machine was, discovered, like somebody heard her singing in a pub in London. Oh, wow. She kind of exploded off the strength of her voice, obviously. Anyway, I don't know.

I didn't think they hit that that hard personally. I thought it was more from Jackson's perspective. He was saying, like, look at you, you sell out, but he was a hypocrite, too. So it didn't bother me that much. Yeah, that's true. There's also quite a bit of discussion about whether the gender politics of the film are as antiquated as the source material or if Cooper did something different here. I, as I mentioned at the top, I think he does something different. I think that unlike pretty much all of the previous versions,

his downfall is not directly tied to her success. He's a mess who's hiding it well at the beginning versus all of the other versions where he's kind of already a washed up drunken slob. James Mason is a huge mess in the Judy Garland one at the top, like embarrassing disaster. And Chris Christofferson is a mess too at the top of his. He's also fully rooting for her in this one.

I think. I think he, I mean, I think there is some jealousy that comes forward, but I don't think that is what destroys him. I think I would offer maybe one of, two interpretations. I think the first is he is deeply self-destructive and toxic. Yes. And he struggles with her assent in many ways. From, you know, she tells him about her meeting with the manager. He rubs the cream cheese on her face.

Totally. And it's kind of played as playful, but he's being a prick. No, it's clear that he's being a drunken asshole. And I think his inability to recognize that, you know, he needs to accept that this night is not for him at the Grammys. You know what I mean? Is another instance of sabotage. I understand it's played a little more as self-destructive and then she's the inadvertent collateral damage. I think more so than in most of the other versions, it is played as him not fully understanding

what he is doing. I mean, the James Mason, when he literally stands up there and says, I need a job. No, I know. I guess the way I interpret the ending of this version, though, ultimately is that he, the noble version is he recognizes that there's no way out for him and that at some point he will fuck up and bring her back down. And so therefore, he's going to, you know, pull the rip cord. Yes.

The toxic version of that, though, is it's a same thing. self-fulfilling prophecy. He doesn't set her free. No. He hangs himself and pulls her emotionally with him. So she'll always have a foot half in the grave with him. Yes. So I don't know. I'm just, I'm just hesitant to say. No, here's what I, here's my thing. I think this is the only version where it feels like he did actually have a way out and that they could have potentially had a life together where she maintained her career and he was happy. Like it, I think it's the Dave Chappelle section of this movie that actually achieves that. where he has someone offering to him,

this is a port in the storm. This is actually good. You could do this. You could be happy. And I think he believes it. And then the impetus for him to, you know, take the final act here is actually not anything that she does. It's what her slimy manager comes and tells him,

which is that you will always drag her down. That is different from the other versions. And almost all the other ones, I think particularly the Judy Garland one, which is really heartbreaking. He overhears a conversation between, her in the studio head where she is saying to the studio head, take me out of my contract. I need to be done. My job is now taking care of him. That's it. I want to leave. And he's like,

I'm not going to do that to her because I'm always going to be a mess. So what I liked about that version too. I love that ending. It's really sad. Sean Penn, who Bradley Cooper once watched with rapt attention at the actor's studio in New York City, said it's the best, most important commercial film I've seen in so many years. But one critic, Chris, who definitely didn't love it, was Barbara. Ms. Streisand told Variety, quote, at first when I heard it was going to be done again,

it was supposed to be Will Smith and Beyonce, and I thought, that's interesting. Really make it different again, different kind of music, integrated actors, I thought it was a great idea. Integrated actors. That's what it says. Oh, Babs. All right.

So I was surprised when I saw how alike it was to the version that I did in 1976. Well, you made a movie. I mean, there are similarities. Yeah, yeah. No, it's a remake, to be fair. She went on to call the film The Wrong Idea in future interviews and stated that she, quote, doesn't care so much about success as I do originality.

Yours was also a remake of a remake. I know, I know. Something else Barbara related that raised a few eyebrows that you've mentioned in the post Me Too era was the inclusion of John Peters as a producer on the film. Remember that he produced the 1976 version with Babs and he was her boyfriend at the time. In 2011, he was ordered to pay an assistant $3 million in damages for sexual harassment that is pretty disgusting. I will not get into it. Warner Brothers was forced to issue a statement that John Peter's attachment to this property goes as far back as 1976 and legally we had to honor the contractual obligation in order to make this film. Fun fact, not the first time Warner

Brothers had to pay him out for doing absolutely nothing. He collected millions. on Man of Steel because of his involvement in the franchise. And according to him, quote, my reputation scares these guys. Cool dude. Scares a lot of people. Although a star is born producer Bill Gerber did say that John could not have been more helpful getting it all in line in regards to the 20 years of development on the film.

So I don't know how involved he was in this. All right. We're almost at the end here. Rumors of infidelity plagued both Gaga and Cooper because they were, as we said, so googly-eyed and drooly with each other. during the press tour. I'm not going to give this that much real estate because, A, I don't care. And yes, Chris?

I will say, it's probably just a good quality of Mr. Cooper's, but every clip you played me of Lady Gaga talking, he is staring at her. They are staring at each other. I know, but in particular, he doesn't even move. I was like, good God, sir. Yeah. Listen, of course they fell in love with each other after doing this movie.

But also they're selling the movie and... They're selling the ultimate, you know, Hollywood love story. We're doing a great job selling it. I'm sure they did love each other. It may not have been a romantic love. This was an enormous effort on both of their parts. They had deep respect for each other. I don't care.

Didn't help that he did end up breaking up with Arena Shake a few months after their extraordinarily Googly Oscars performance. But whatever. Speaking of the Oscars, we have to briefly mention Lady Gaga's famous. There can be 99 people in a room who don't believe in you speech that she said, over and over during the press tour. If you are not familiar, here is the line. You can have 100 people in the room that are watching you and 99 don't believe in you. And one does. And that was him. So, you know, all my god is he was. Now, it was laughed at and much memed, but I'm going to say this again. Who cares?

I think she was nervous. She was unaccustomed to actually being in the spotlight in this way, which sounds weird, but she really hadn't done, like, I think interviews on this scale prior to this. where she is really being herself and more stripped down. I can totally see feeling like you have a good story or good line in repeating it and then not thinking about how it will be perceived. That being said, she does say it in every interview, and I watched a lot of them. There are 99 people in this world, but Bradley Cooper's one of them. Oh, my God. Yeah, it was a lot, but whatever.

All in all, the film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Only One, for Best Original Song. And not Best Director. That is correct. That's what I was just going to say. I think he was robbed of a Best Director nomination for this. I'm not saying you should have won.

Do you know who was nominated? Yes, I do. I have the list. Oh, great. I came prepared, Chris, for your questions. What's Monday morning quarterback it? So the other nominees were Spike Lee for Black Klansman, I would say, deserved. Alfonso Corone for Roma, who won, very deserved.

Pavlovakowski for Cold War Jorgos Lantamos for the favorite and Adam McKay for Vice I think there's one you can scoot, scoot, right out of there and put Mr. Cooper in and it is that one. I would have kicked McKay off. There's one other person on that list

who I actually also would have kicked off, but I'm going to keep that to myself. Spike Lee, he didn't like Black Klansman. I did. I liked it. I just didn't think it was his best work. Okay, there you go. Got it, David, cut it.

Leave it in. I think this is bullshit. I think the fact that he did not get a nomination for this as a directorial debut is ridiculous. And I love Adam McKay. I think he's great. Vice is certainly not his greatest work. Christian Bale's great, but outside of that, you know, not amazing. So, yeah, I'm still mad about this.

And you know what? I think they've done a disservice by not nominating him because he's trying really hard in all of his other movies. Did you see Maestro? It tries so hard. That's, I mean, I think, I think in a way that, again, it works against him. And I think it's a very Hollywood thing. This need to make it feel effortless or this need to make it seem as if you don't want it when everybody wants it. You know what I mean?

Well, he did want it and like really campaigned for it. I agree. He's, he did. He said, this is what I want. And he continues to say that this is what he wants. You open yourself up to a. line of criticism that is, oh, are you just striving, you know, for that glory or to achieve greatness? And at the end of the day, like, do you choose a vehicle like Maestro or a Star is

born as a means to an end as opposed to a story to tell? Again, I don't think that's entirely fair. But I do think he, in a way, gets punished. I mean, Leonardo DiCaprio, there is the running joke, you know, of him crawling his way to his Oscar and The Revenant that we discussed in that episode. It reminds me of that a little bit. Well, Chris, the soundtrack also became Gaga's fifth number one album. So did pretty well for everybody, even if Mr. Cooper was snubbed. So finally, here we are at the end. What went right? I have to give mine to Lady Gaga, because I think, and I think Bradley Cooper's great in this movie. I think he directed the hell out of it. And you could say a lot of her performance,

we obviously have to credit to him as a director and as her scene partner that should not go overlooked. I just, upon rewatching it, was really struck by the fact that I at no point thought of her persona.

I didn't think of Lady Gaga. I didn't. I just thought, she is great. She anchors the scenes that she's in. It does not feel like she slips into melodrama unnecessarily. And she felt very natural. I hope to see her do more acting. And my,

Lizzie, I'm going to give one what went wrong. I just give her a more dynamic stage name than Allie. Like, I just, when they were like, and the Grammy goes to Allie. I was like, no. Esther blodge it. Bring it back. Vicki Lester.

That's not a hot name either. Which is not a better name. No, it's not. Yeah. It's not. Anywho, so I'll give mine to Lady Gaga. Stephanie, you are absolutely phenomenal in this movie. Yes, she is.

And I thoroughly enjoyed House of Gucci. I will watch her in pretty much anything. I'm going to give a two-parter here. Man, it's hard. There's a lot that goes really right. The obvious one is Bradley Cooper as a director. I think that he was particularly adept at bringing on collaborators for this. I think he knew where his way.

weak spots were, and he didn't try to overcompensate by handling everything himself. He relied on industry vets like Eric Roth and Maddie Libetique, and I think it shows, I think shows in the cinematography, which is, again, I think really incredible in this. And I think also the desire to bring in this many musicians of the caliber that they did to write everything. It just, it sounds great, It looks great. So I guess I will come back and just give it to Bradley Cooper as the head of this unwieldy beast and for doing it right in terms of actually listening to and trusting the people that he hired. I mean, well deserved.

It's certainly one of the best directorial debuts, maybe ever, and of the last 30 years, definitely. Yeah, I think so too. So that's it. That wraps up a star is born. And I really, I don't think it'll be the first. the last time we visit this franchise. I'm excited to talk about these other movies. It was really fun actually watching kind of how the story changed over the years. And it's really interesting to learn that trajectory. So thank you for walking it through us. But of course, we have to thank

the people who make this podcast possible. And that is you, dear listeners. Thank you for giving us ratings and reviews. That is a great way to support us. You know what? A little bit of homework for you this week. Tell one person about the show. try and get one person on board. Tell them something, girl, about this here show. And of course, we have to shout out our patrons. You truly support us. There are many tiers that you can support us at.

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So get ready. All right. Let me see if I can figure this out. All right. Now, if you're not a patron, I'd suggest you should turn this off. No, no, no. We're all going to stay here. Chris slash Alley's debut.

All right. No, I'm doing Jackson, Maine. Oh, okay. All right, here we go. Let's see. This one goes out to our full stops. Lance Steider, Night the Knife. Y'all signed up after I wrote the song, so I'm calling you out now.

Tell me something, friend. Tired of podcast ads that never end. And do you need more? Are you feeling like a corporate whore? Free Get that RSS feed that's so, so clean Or maybe If you got the means

Come get a shout out like one of these Tell me something came Do you and say to only have one name Or are you like George You leave me wondering if there's something more Kathley, Olson and Tom Christen with us, you stood. So, Man, Shai, Nani. I pre-ordered your book, it looks so good.

Written deserve this. My name winter bow, Don Shivalitha. Kill and keep on killing it. Grace Potter, I hope you didn't listen. All right. That was my thank you. I'm very embarrassed. By the way, thank you all.

That was not Lucas Nelson playing the guitar. Bradley Cooper stuck it. That was Chris Winterbauer. Yeah, that's right. That was great, Chris. So I can hear all the mistakes. Good job. I've never really learned the guitar.

As I mentioned, I've studied the piano since I was fine. Oh, shut up. All right. What's coming up next week, Chris? Next, we are talking about the seminal 1999 Star Wars reboot Lizzie's face. I forgot. That's what was next. We're talking about the phantom menace.

Guys, I'm very excited. It's going to be a really fun episode. Whether you like the movie or not, it is a fascinating story. And really, I'll just say, it is a deep dive into the mind. and emotional turmoil of George Lucas, and I'm very excited. All right, I'm ready. Doodoo do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. All right, I just got to send that file off to David to Autotune, and we will,

we'll see you in two weeks. Thank you, everybody. Thanks, guys. Go to patreon.com slash what went wrong podcast to support what went wrong, and check out our website at what went wrongpod.com. What went wrong is a sad boom podcast, presented by Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer. editing and music by David Bowman. Research for this episode provided by Sarah Baum.