Bradley Cooper's directorial debut, A Star Is Born, has garnered rave reviews and prestigious award nominations since its release in October 2018. And if you haven't managed to see it ahead of the Oscars—where it's nominated for eight Academy Awards and stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga will perform—you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Watch the movie online
The musical drama, also directed and co-written by Cooper, has a lot of individuality and an unforgettable soundtrack, and has become a pop culture phenomenon in the months since its release. Here's everything you need to know about the movie's origin ahead of Sunday's Oscars.
🚨Spoilers Ahead 🚨
A Star Is Born is a classic love story.
The movie follows two musicians—country singer Jackson Maine, played by Cooper, and unknown singer-songwriter Ally, played by Lady Gaga. Jack is successful, but battling an alcohol addiction and struggling with severe tinnitus, making it more and more difficult for him to perform live. He's also seriously lonely, something which changes when he meets Ally one night in a drag club.
After seeing Ally perform an incredible rendition of "La Vie en Rose," Jack is blown away by her vocals and begs to meet her after the show. They end up spending the entire night talking and sharing songs.Insisting that she join him at his next gig, Jack has Ally flown out to see him perform. But when she gets there, Jack reveals that he's created an arrangement for one of her songs, and he convinces her to join him on stage. She sings "Shallow" to a huge audience, then joins Jack on his subsequent tour dates. The two musicians begin to write music together, falling in love the more they work with one another. Word of Ally's talent travels fast, and she is signed by a music manager.
Ally and Jackson marry in a spur-of-the-moment ceremony, but as Ally's fledgling pop career starts to explode, Jack finds it difficult to handle the attention focused on her. Plus, as Ally's musical direction takes her away from her husband's country music roots, Jackson begins to feel lost, and fall deeper into substance abuse. At a high-profile award ceremony, Jack inadvertently embarrasses Ally, and goes to rehab as a result.
The movie has a seriously sad ending.
While in rehab, Jack foreshadows the end of the movie when he tells his therapist about a suicide attempt he made years before, when he tried to hang himself with a belt. As he is in recovery, Ally decides to cancel a previously-announced European tour so that she can be with her husband.
Returning home from rehab, Jackson is scheduled to join his wife at a local concert. Before he can attend, Ally's music manager drops by, and guilts the country singer by suggesting the cancellation of the pop star's first major European tour will be damaging for her career. The manager implies that Jackson is ruining his wife's life and profession.
Still recovering from his time in rehab, and dealing with serious depression, Jack believes he is responsible for his wife's decision to put her career on hold. Instead of joining her at her concert, he goes to the garage and repeats the suicide attempt he tried before. This time, he succeeds.
The movie ends with Ally singing a heartfelt rendition of a song that Jackson wrote for her before he died called, "I'll Never Love Again." Her incredible performance solidifies her stardom, but comes at a devastating price.
The 2019 film is the third version of a 1937 movie. It's not officially based on a true story, but there are some real-life inspirations.
Cooper and Gaga's version of A Star Is Born is a remake of a remake of a remake grounded in a lot of Hollywood history. In fact, it's the fourth time the story has been told on film.
The first version came out in 1937, and focuses on Esther Blodgett (played by Janet Gaynor) as she moves to Hollywood to follow her dreams. It's not until she meets famous actor Norman Maine (played by Fredric March) that Esther begin having some success in the industry.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the 1937 version of A Star Is Born actually heavily relied on an even earlier film, the 1932 RKO-produced movie What Price Hollywood?—so much so that RKO almost sued the makers of the 1937 movie for plagiarism. That movie is reportedly based on the life of Colleen Moore, a silent film star. But EW adds that the script for the 1937 A Star Is Born has long believed to be inspired by a mish-mash of Hollywood heavy-hitters, including Barbara Stanwyck, John Barrymore, and silent-film star John Bowers. Read the full, fascinating story of the origins of the 1937 A Star Is Born at EW.com.
In 1954, Judy Garland and James Mason starred together in the first sequel to the 1937 movie. USA Today describes the musical as a "three-hour song-and-dance extravaganza." The movie received five Oscar nominations but no wins. Watch the 1954 Movie
The next remake came out in 1976 and starred Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand. Kristofferson played a serious rock musician who met Streisand's unknown singer in a bar. She went on to become a disco icon. The movie won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Evergreen." Watch the 1976 Movie
If you're about to embark upon watching Cooper and Gaga's masterpiece for the first time, make sure you have some tissues handy, and prepare to sing into your hairbrush like there's no tomorrow.
Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness, and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.
