Cooper shows his vision in A StAr is Born
Bradley Cooper puts his stamp on new version of A Star Is Born
Bradley Cooper always knew he wanted to direct. Ever since he was a kid, the four-time Oscar nominee envisioned a career both in front of and behind the camera.
“I just don’t think I had the confidence to admit it to myself until I was maybe in my 30s,” says Cooper, 43, who made a stop in Toronto recently with actor Sam Elliott.
But the one thing he kept consciously at the back of his mind was: I have time.
“I always thought, ‘Well, Clint Eastwood waited until he was 40 before making Play Misty for Me. So I have until then.’”
Slowly, Cooper was drawn into the idea of remaking A Star Is Born.
The tragic love story was first made into a film in 1937 with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March (though some consider that a remake of George Cukor’s 1932 movie What Price Hollywood?). Two other versions have been made since with Judy Garland and James Mason (1954) and Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson (1976).
For a time, Eastwood was set to direct an update on the story that follows the tumultuous relationship between a rising star and the man who discovers her, but Cooper envisaged his own take.
As Eastwood moved on to other projects, Cooper hatched a story with writers Eric Roth and Will Fetters and assembled a dream cast that includes Elliott, Lady Gaga and Dave Chappelle.
Q Your take on A Star Is Born is the fourth or fifth version of this story. Why do you think this tragic tale endures?
Cooper: I know why it resonated for me. Hopefully if you’re alive you’ve experienced love and the loss of love and all the emotions that go with that. I know what I get out of movies, ultimately, is healing and community, while also hopefully being entertained. So it just felt like the perfect food, or soil, to harvest a story from.
You know, the first one didn’t have any music in it. The second one was the beginning of her becoming a singer. That combination of telling a true human love story with a singing voice was something I was interested in.
But even more than that, I was excited in this version to create an entire world, which Lady Gaga, Sam and Dave Chappelle and Anthony Ramos helped us tell. It’s really a story about a whole lot of people, which excited me too.
Q Sam, Bradley wrote your part in the film specifically for you. What did you think when he asked you to come on board?
Elliott: I’m always taken back when someone wants me to be part of something. When I went and met with Bradley and saw that he wanted me to play his brother in this piece, I was taken by it.
I was taken by his passion for it ... Now that it’s done, I can say I’ve never been involved in a film like this — I truly believe that. I feel like I’ve done some nice work in some good films for sure. But I’ve never been involved in a film where scene after scene after scene takes you places.
Q Bradley, we knew Lady Gaga could sing, but you turned out to be a pretty good singer. In the film, you appeared in front of crowds at Coachella, Stagecoach and Glastonbury. Was that nerve-racking ?
Cooper: The whole experience was nerve-racking. Look, if I hadn’t prepared, I would have been petrified to show up on set. That was the thing I took away from this.
I watched a documentary on Mike Nichols and they asked him, ‘How do you approach directing ?’ and he replied, ‘Just like acting — I prepare as much as I can and then I show up on set and I just throw it all away.’ I worked like a Trojan learning how to sing in front of people. It’s one thing to sing in the shower, and it’s another thing to go up there in front of people.
When you’re in front of a crowd, your nerves start, your endorphins are going, you can lose your breath ... It was just work, and there’s no substitute for work.
Q You wrote several songs that appear in the film. Did you know who you wanted your character Jackson to sound like?
Cooper: I gotta say, and this is to Lady Gaga’s credit, the more we just worked on the songs they just became something. I didn’t base them on anyone. Certainly everyone I’ve listened to and like has influenced me, but there was no template.
Q Lady Gaga is a complete revelation as Ally. How did you know she was the right actress to play the part? Cooper: Elia Kazan wrote a great autobiography, and he wrote
about how he’d never audition actors, he would take them for a walk around the block. That always resonated with me, particularly because I’ve auditioned for 2,500 things over my life. Sometimes in an audition you don’t get a sense of somebody and like Jackson says, ‘Talent is everywhere.’ If you can get someone to relax and be open, they’re going to show you their soul. And someone like her showing her soul is captivating, then you put on top of that Lady Gaga’s incredible acting ... it was astonishing, but not surprising because look what she’s achieved in her other field.
Q The last time A Star Is Born was onscreen was with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in 1976. How did you want to put your own stamp on this story so it’s something people will watch 40 years from now?
Cooper: All I thought about was trying to make something that was indelibly authentic. That’s all I cared about. That’s where it starts and ends for me. What’s going to become of it is completely out of my control ... The one thing I begged of everyone was to trust me.