explain the inexplicable: Bradley Cooper’s A STAR IS BORN feat Lady Gaga

Babs wanted Elvis as her leading man!

same tbh

I wish I had some juicy details. I don't make a career out of doing extra work, but I've done it enough times to get a sense of what's going on and what the mood of the set is like. TV productions are race car pit crews - they've all been working together for years, the director is a known quantity, the cast's roles are defined, and for the most part everyone knows what to do. The movie shoots I've worked on (almost all non-indie because you get paid and the food is great) weren't terribly different. Bigger crew, longer shoot, occasional luxury to dwell on one scene to explore different takes if you're ahead of schedule, nevertheless if it's organized there's some sense that there's a "there" out there for everyone to row towards together.

None of this was apparent on the ASIB set. The below-the-line crew were great and fun to talk with because absolutely nothing was happening. "What's going on? I don't know..." was the call and response I heard everywhere - on the walkie-talkies, among the crew, the extras, the stand-ins, everywhere. Coachella, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Shrine Auditorium are all rented out, several hundred crew members, hundreds more out in the crowd, and the band onstage are all patiently waiting. A LOT of money is being spent.

Cooper would come out, strum a guitar for a couple of lines, then remember he was the director and that he needed to assert himself as one. Hey AD & DP, can we get different angle from stage right? OK, We'll have to move the crowd, re-do the lighting, move the camera dollies to the other side - it'll take at least a hour of time and money to do this. BTW it's 9 in the evening and everyone has been here since 7am. Repeat this with every scene.

I don't really have an opinion on the guy other than he seemed to be in way over his head and that he was very appreciative and gracious to everyone regardless of who they were. That last bit goes a long way with me but if a good movie comes out of this it'll be in post.

Worth noting that there was an absolute electric change in on set energy whenever Gaga was around and unlike Cooper, sang live instead of miming along to a backing tape. Hopefully those live takes will make it into the movie.

heck that's pretty juicy as is imo

quite possibly, 'A Star is Born' has been remade more than any other movie

if you count things that started as books or stories, it's not even in sight of the running

if you count film-original stories, it's tied with King Kong at three non-sequel remakes, but Night Of The Living Dead is at six remakes and two in post.

if you count films that retell a story from different perspectives repeatedly but don't keep using the title of the original, Rashomon is probably way up there

lol

there’s no such thing as casual conversation with you, is there

sometimes I think these things are fun to follow through.

half the people on my wall who whined about it being remade didn't know the Streisand one wasn't the original.

(I didn’t know how many non-sequel Living Deads there were, just that there was some weirdness around the copyright which means nobody owns it. I definitely can’t think of another original-to-film story that’s been remade three times under the same title, and am delighted that Aimless has put the likelihood in the back of my mind for the future.)

<3

it's tied with King Kong at three non-sequel remakes,

There's the Dino De Laurentiis one from 1976, the Peter Jackson one, and???

Also, one can make a pretty good argument that the first A Star Is Born from 1937 is itself a remake of the 1932 film What Price Hollywood?

Victor/Victoria also ties for second with three remakes.

Crazy Heart made a bunch of money and won awards and that didn't have anyone as pretty as Gaga or Cooper.

There's the Dino De Laurentiis one from 1976, the Peter Jackson one, and???

Kong: Skull Island from last year

if you count things that started as books or stories...

Displaying 159 results for "the three musketeers"
https://www.imdb.com/find?q=the%20three%20musketeers&s=tt&ref_=fn_al_tt_mr

uh, The Bible, guys

Kong: Skull Island from last year

I'm going to disagree on this one - if we're going to include this one then we should include the Toho Kong vs. Godzilla movies.

I expect ben hur numbers

Why does the trailer emphasize that bcoop directed it? How is that a selling point?

people generally don't know who directors are

it's a selling point

it's a PASSION PROJECT through and through

Cooper's best acting might just be the PR campaign how he wanted to direct, passion project, blah blah.

famous-actor-directs-film is almost always a marketing point

if we're going to include this one then we should include the Toho Kong vs. Godzilla movies.

nah*, there are sequels to the 1933 and 1976 Kongs that also don't count. but Kong: Skull Island is a remake of King Kong that just doesn't have the New York bit.


*although the plot summary for useless moderator King Kong vs Godzilla does make me suspect that that one might be close enough. (I've only seen the 1933 and Skull Island.)

lmao talkhouse broke embargo, no idea who the reviewer is

And we are off to the races. pic.twitter.com/PTZ9IFNnqm

— Sean Fennessey (@SeanFennessey) August 27, 2018

well, i'm convinced

gonna hedge my bets and say this won't be the most impressive directorial debut by an actor since Night of The Hunter

lmao

A Star Is Born (2018, dir. Bradley Cooper) pic.twitter.com/BudBkeMSmZ

— ☭ a rube ☭ (@faggiecheung) August 28, 2018

omfg

outstanding

Glenn Kenny's on board:

Not to disparage the talents of any individuals who worked on it (and I should emphasize that Cooper does damn well playing a musician, and Gaga is her usual disciplined marvel), but this is an example of Big Movie Studio Craft at its most well-thought out; among the many contingents of moviegoers it will please will be the “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore” crowd.

When we complain they don't make 'em like that anymore we don't want actual remakes of "'em." Having said that this could be an entertaining mess.

I think I would go to some other movie starring Lady Gaga, but not this one.

Nature trying to destroy this movie https://www.indiewire.com/2018/08/a-star-is-born-world-premiere-lighting-projector-venice-1201999539/

man I totally forgot that Dorothy Parker wrote this. was thumbing through a collection of her short stories the other night and was like waaaaaht

well, she cowrote the '37 original, but you can definitely pick out a few of her lines.

Reviews I've seen out of TIFF are dece-to-rapturous.

(of course the "rapturous" end includes Owen Gliberman so)

Hearing that this movie might be good does nothing to make it more comprehensible to me

When we complain they don't make 'em like that anymore we don't want actual remakes of "'em." Having said that this could be an entertaining mess.

― abcfsk,

I don't think Kenny suggested it.

If you told me this movie opened last weekend and already made $300 million I would believe you.

I will never understand the cult of Bradley Cooper. Like, how he got to be mega-paid "serious" actor of Hollywood is completely baffling to me. He will always just be one of those ppl who was in Wet Hot American Summer.

I liked him best as a smarmy quasi-supervillain in the TV version of Limitless

It's kind of funny that his most prominent screen role by a fair distance is in the GOTG movies

wait, there was a TV version of Limitless? I though the film sank with Cooper.

I often use him as a grammar example when teaching appositives: "Bradley Cooper, an Oscar-nominated actor, has never given a great performance."

I will never understand the cult of Bradley Cooper. Like, how he got to be mega-paid "serious" actor of Hollywood is completely baffling to me. He will always just be one of those ppl who was in Wet Hot American Summer.

You'll change your tune when Cooper wins no fewer than 4 Oscars next February.

Christ is his name on the screenplay too?

By god it is, and with an &, I feel bad for the poor schmuck who had to call himself Cooper’s writing partner

Surely they'll save Best Actor for his Lenny Bernstein movie.

(he's co-writing and directing that one too)

wait, there was a TV version of Limitless? I though the film sank with Cooper.

Yeah, no one watched it but he had a recurring cameo in the same role. I, along with approximately 6 other people, actually enjoyed it, way moreso than the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW9Lfs-Fxmo