LADY GAGA: A STAR IS REBORN
For Lady Gaga’s first motion picture lead role she reached deep into her own personal journey
When Lady Gaga first met Bradley Cooper, he reached for her face. Gaga was there to shoot a screen test for A Star Is Born (in Thai cinemas next Thursday), the remake of the Hollywood classic that Cooper was directing and starring in, and he wasn’t happy.
“He told me he wanted no make-up,” Gaga recalled, laughing. “I was trying to trick him with my no-make-up make-up. Before one word was said, he looked at me, took a wet cloth and wiped off my face. The towel was brown with the little bit of foundation and concealer I was hiding behind.”
“You need to take it all off,” Cooper insisted. “Wipe it all away.”
It became a metaphor for the way Gaga had to strip away her stage artifice to play aspiring musician Ally, the latest incarnation of the up-and-comer played previously by Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.
“I had to trust Bradley as I exposed myself in a way I had never done before,” said Gaga, who was playing her first lead role in a movie.
The early signs are that it paid off. A Star Is Born has drawn strong early reviews and sparked Oscar talk of matching nominations for Cooper and Gaga, not to mention Best Picture and Best Director.
Sitting for an early-morning interview at the Toronto Film Festival, Gaga looked far different from the character she plays onscreen, movie-queen elegant in a rubyred, velvet dress that hung glamorously off one shoulder. Her trademark platinum-blonde hair was in a high-top knot and, yes, she was wearing delicate eyeliner and pale foundation.
Gaga made it clear that she’s not buying into the buzz — at least not yet.
“I’m not reading the reviews,” she insisted. “I just feel very honoured to be with these tremendously talented, kind and loving human beings I’m happy to call my friends now.”
The latest version of A Star Is Born casts Gaga as a shy, insecure young singer/ actress who falls in love with a musical superstar named Jackson Maine (Cooper). As her career soars, his falters due to age and alcohol.
Cooper makes his directorial debut with the film, which he also co-wrote with Eric Roth, an Oscar winner for Forrest Gump (1994).
Gaga, whose largest previous acting role had been as the Countess on the FX hit American Horror Story (2015-2016), admitted that at first the idea of starring in a movie made her a bit jittery. That moment didn’t last long, though.
“The first day of shooting, Bradley and I shook hands,” Gaga recalled. “He said to me, ‘You are an actress’. And I said to him, ‘And you are a musician’.”
“I had acted before, but I had never been the lead actress in a film,” she added. “I was lucky, because Bradley is an incredible filmmaker. He operates with such precision and such a vision. You can see the gears turning while he’s working, even when he’s in character at the same time.”
In the moment, Gaga found, the acting came naturally.
“Sure, I had my lines memorised,” she said, “but, when I got to set, I threw away everything and just existed in this world, which was a completely liberating environment. It wasn’t rigid. I felt very artistically free to experience it all.”
It might have gone differently. After all, Cooper and Gaga are playing musicians. The film was permeated by music — something she knows about first-hand, and he only second-hand.
“The music is a character,” she said. “Songs changed on the day. We had this arsenal of music.”
She was amazed, Gaga said, by how well Cooper handled his singing scenes.
“I remember when we were in the studio working on one of the songs,” she said. “I was sitting back listening to Bradley sing and thought, ‘Oh, OK, I’ve got a musician on my hands’. I loved that so much.”
“But I never told Bradley that in those words,” she added. “It has always been so important to me, as an artist, that no one tells me who I am. I didn’t want to tell him who he was as a singer.”
They shot a live-concert scene before shows by Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. Gaga has another moment singing La Vie En Rose in a much more intimate setting. “I used to sing that song in a drag bar on the Lower East Side of New York,” she recalled. “It was an absolute dream of a scene, and a wonderful moment for me in the film. The challenge here was that I was singing it as Ally, so I did it a bit differently. “I do have to say that all those nights in the drag bar prepared me. I really wouldn’t be here without the gay community and what they have taught me about love, acceptance and bravery. Those lessons will never be forgotten.”
One of her favourite moments in the film, Gaga said, is one in which Cooper’s character sings to some drag queens.
“She is falling in love with this man,” she explained. “She sees that he has empathy, compassion and love. He’s a kind person. It’s such a special moment, and Bradley executed it with total authenticity.”
The theme of addiction and depression cut deeply for Gaga, especially in the context of the entertainment industry.
“Fame is very unnatural,” she said. “We see Jack struggling in the film. There is substance abuse and trauma. Ally also suffered from depression at the beginning of the film and had to deal with not believing in herself.
“I think it’s important that we guide artists and take care of them on a psychological level as they begin to rise because everything changes. The truth is, people think we change as people. It’s not us that changes — it’s everyone around us that changes.”
“We should be more careful with the human spirit — not just for the artist, but for everyone,” she continued. “Intervene early. Teach people about compassion, teach people about kindness. Teach people how to reach out and be there for someone, even when they don’t even know that they’re sad. It might be so deep that they can’t even pinpoint it.
“It’s really important.”
During filming, Gaga escaped her usual paparazzi crush because she was unrecognisable.
“I dyed my hair my natural colour quite a bit before we started filming,” she said. “I wanted to get into character, which was challenging and liberating.”
Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, Lady Gaga grew up in New York, where she attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls Catholic school. She learned to play piano at age four, and her parents encouraged her to pursue a career in music.
“I’m very lucky to be here,” she said. “I’m an East Coast American-Italian from New York who grew up dreaming of becoming an actress and musician. I didn’t make it as an actress early on, so I gave it up and pursued singing.
“I’m here today because someone believed in me. If you believe in someone, it has such a power to ignite the human spirit.”
Her father was the first to believe in her, Gaga said.
“When I was very young, that encouragement was like nourishment,” she said. “It fed me as an artist and was so crucial. I don’t know who I would be if I didn’t have parents who encouraged me to be creative.
“There can be 100 people in the room and 99 who don’t believe in you — that’s fine,” she added. “If just one person does believe in you, then it can change everything. First my dad believed in me, and then Bradley Cooper.”
Lady Gaga studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, but it was music that brought her stardom. The Fame (2008) was her breakthrough album, launching the hit singles Just Dance, Paparazzi and Poker Face, which reached No.1.
She did even better with The Fame Monster (2009), an EP which earned Grammy awards for Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video. The two albums together have sold more than 15 million copies. She had another massive hit with the song and album Born This Way (2011). Cheek To Cheek (2014), a duets album with Tony Bennett, and Joanne (2016) didn’t reach those levels, but were still solid hits. Meanwhile her live shows are legendary spectacles, selling out stadiums when she tours.
More movies? She’s definitely open to the idea.
“I’m looking for roles that will blast me to outer space or whatever you call it,” Gaga said. “For me, it has to be a special project. It has to be good work.”
As for the Oscar buzz, well, she isn’t listening. “I’m just very grateful to Bradley for believing in me,” Gaga said. “I just wanted to give him everything I had. Every last drop of blood. All my fear, all my shame, all my pain, all my love, all my kindness.
“All my everything, I wanted to give it to him.”
I’m here today because someone believed in me. If you believe in someone, it has such a power to ignite the spirit