MOVIE FEATURE
A movie-maker
IS BORN
house: “As I began to play [the piano], he
started to sing and I stopped immediately.
I said, ‘Oh my gosh, Bradley, you have this
incredible voice; it is something that comes
from deep in the soul, a voice that is from
the gut, from the nectar of who you are.’
I was beyond inspired. I knew that this was
the only actor in the world who could
play a rock star, like 100 per cent with
certainty. He believed in me so much
and I believed in him so much.”
An unlikely source of inspiration for
Cooper came in the form of a Metallica
concert he attended years earlier.
“I was a massive Metallica fan when
I was younger and a friend introduced
me to [drummer] Lars Ulrich, and
he invited me to come backstage
and see them play,” he recalls.
“I was behind this mesh
behind his drum kit [at] an
outdoor stadium and that
was the first time I had
a visual cue for this movie,
because there was so much
scope in that point of view
looking out on the crowd,
but I could also see the sweat
on the back of his neck.”
The moment came full circle: “Lars
and I became friends and would go every
summer to the Glastonbury music festival,
and he helped me get permission to
go on stage [to film concert scenes],
because I didn’t want to shoot a music
movie without being at Glastonbury.
In the end, it was Lars backstage
watching me perform!”
S
even-time Oscar-nominated actor
Bradley Cooper had a lot to lose
when he decided to not only play
the lead in the newest adaptation
of iconic love story A Star is Born, but
also to co-write the screenplay and make
his directorial debut on the film.
“If you’d said to me three years ago,
‘You’re at this stage in your career, go
remake A Star is Born for the fourth time,’
that doesn’t sound like such a smart
move,” Cooper acknowledges. “But I had
no choice, honestly, because I just knew
deep down that I had a point of view about
this story and that’s what drove me to it,
and that’s what has driven me to all the
greatest experiences I’ve had artistically.
It’s usually when most people tell you not
to do it that you know it’s the right thing.”
In the original 1937 film, Janet Gaynor
stars as a struggling actress who makes
it in Hollywood with the help of a fading
alcoholic star (Fredric March). It’s been
remade three times: in 1954 with Judy
Garland and James Mason; in 1976 with
Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson;
and last year with Cooper and Lady Gaga,
a box-office smash that garnered eight
Oscar nominations, including three for
Cooper – for Best Actor, Best Picture
and Best Adapted Screenplay.
In the latest adaptation, Cooper plays
Jackson Maine, a seasoned musician
who performs in stadiums but struggles
with drugs and alcohol. When he comes
across Ally (Gaga), a waitress who has
given up on her dream of becoming
a successful singer, he launches her
career and they fall in love.
The 44-year-old star of films including
The Hangover, Silver Linings Playbook
and American Sniper says he found his
leading lady after seeing her perform
Édith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose at a 2016
fundraiser. Although Gaga had limited
acting experience outside some minor
film roles and her Golden-Globe winning
performance in TV series American
Horror Story: Hotel, Cooper went to her
home and convinced her to sign on.
“It was almost like a barter we made,
to some degree,” he recalls. “I entrusted
myself to her so that I would be able to find
my voice as a musician and she trusted me
enough to give herself to me in the process
so she could flower as an actress.”
The pair also decided to sing everything
live on set with no lip-syncing, including
the Oscar-winning Best Song, Shallow.
Gaga vividly recalls the first time she
heard Cooper sing during a visit to her
How Bradley Cooper took the leap of faith from actor to film director – and went stratospheric
A STAR IS BORN Stream* from Saturday August 3 or watch at 8.30pm on Premiere Movies [401] available in the MOVIES pack
W
O
RD
S:
J
E
N
N
Y^
C
O
O
N
EY
.^
PH
O
TO
S:
W
A
RN
ER
B
RO
S;
G
E
TT
Y
IM
AG
ES
.^ *
S
EE
P
A
G
E^
18
9
Bradley Cooper and
Lady Gaga receive
applause for their
Oscar performance