Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born will screen at the Venice Film Festival tomorrow before it heads to TIFF next weekend. Since footage of ASIB was shown at CinemaCon in March, the hype has been steadily building. That was basically the very, very beginning of the Oscar campaign. For months now, before any public screening, they’ve been talking about an award season run. We’ll find out this weekend whether or not the film lives up to all the noise. But Warner Bros seems to have a lot of confidence in the film, in Bradley’s directorial debut, and in Lady Gaga.
Ahead of its world premiere in Venice then, the promotion is already starting. A new profile of Gaga by Amy Kaufman was published today in the LA Times. The timing is deliberate, as is the narrative strategy. We know Lady Gaga, the performer, the over-the-top entertainer. We are now being introduced to Lady Gaga, the actress. Which is why the piece opens with Coop telling her at the audition to take her makeup off, to remove the artifice. To put her true soul into the performance. And from there, it’s another several hundred words about her commitment to the role and about her connection with Bradley, so that the article serves two purposes: to build anticipation for Gaga’s performance and to position Bradley as the architect behind it. If A Star is Born is any good, that’s the story you’ll be hearing from this weekend all the way to the Dolby Theatre in February at the Oscars.
And I’m not complaining. I’m ready for a melodramatic Hollywood fable. I’m ready for a movie ballad, for my heart to swell along with the notes, to the point where I want to throw my head back and toss my arms to the side, like sweep me away! The song that plays in the trailer seems like it has the potential to do that. We know Gaga can write a song that has the potential to do that. I just…
I’m just nervous they’ll change the ending. Because I’m really looking forward to the millennial reaction on Twitter. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE .... (SPOILER - stop reading if you've never the other 3 versions of this movie)...
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...DIES?!?
It shouldn’t be spoiler – this is the FOURTH VERSION of the movie.
I am sorry about getting ahead of myself though. I’m just excited. Everyone I know is excited about this movie. More on A Star is Born next week and at TIFF. We’ll know soon enough. Click here to read the full LA Times story.
Here’s Gaga with her boyfriend and her ma in Paris last night ahead of what could be a major career turning point for her, in a career that has already seen so many turning points. Bradley Cooper has been in Paris lately too. We should be seeing them in Venice very, very soon.
