Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper respected that Barbra Streisand was the last leading lady in A Star Is Born, but Barbra had some choice words for them.
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's 2018 Oscar-nominated A Star Is Born is an absolute hit. Not only did the movie earn over $430 million at the box office, but the song "Shallow" written for the film broke numerous streaming records before winning an Oscar.
Lady Gaga was a superstar in her own right prior to the release of the film, but A Star Is Born proved the Just Dance singer is truly a triple threat. On top of starring in the movie, she's listed as a writer for all 17 original songs from the film.
She, Bradley Cooper, and the rest of the A Star Are Born production team pulled their creative talents together to ensure the fourth adaption of the film would be as good, if not better, than its priors. Critics agreed that they pulled it off. Not everyone was impressed with the adaptation happening, including the star of the 1972 version of the movie – Barbra Streisand. Did Lady Gaga bother to talk with the Broadway legend before taking a crack at the role of Ally?
Lady Gaga reached out to numerous friends and mentors before taking on the role of Ally in A Star Is Born, including Barbra. With Lady Gaga being a thorough and well-knowledged pupil of both theater and film, she knew she had to speak with the last artist to take on the role before filming began.
Speaking with E! News, Barbra said she did speak to the singer "a little bit" about the role and gave her some pointers. "I told her to do it live, and she wanted to do it live, so that's good because that's the best way to do it," said Barbra to E! News.
No offense to Barbra, as the two-time Oscar winner is obviously a living legend, but she didn't really have a foot to stand on in this competition. Her performance compared to Lady Gaga's performance in A Star Is Born is drastically different.
Barbra's version of the film has a measly 35% critics' approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whereas Lady Gaga's has a 90% critics' approval rating. The audience scores also favor the newer rendition, with Lady Gaga's version getting 80% and Barbra's sitting at 63%.
Both of the women took home Oscars for Best Original Song from their time working on their respective A Star is Born movies, but audiences seem to agree that Lady Gaga's A Star is Born far supersedes Barbra's 1976 version.
Barbra had a lot to say about A Star Is Born after it premiered, and it wasn't all good. Speaking on the Australian news television show The Sunday Project in 2021, Barbra explained why she thought the remake was "the wrong idea".
"At first, when I heard it was going to be done again, it was supposed to be Will Smith and Beyoncé, and I thought, that’s interesting. Really make it different again, different kind of music, integrated actors, I thought that was a great idea. So, I was surprised when I saw how alike it was to the version that I did in 1976," said Barbra.
While she also said she couldn't argue with the success of the film, it's not what she focuses on. "I don’t care so much about success as I do originality," said Barbra.
It's not clear what caused Barbra to change her tune about the film so many years later, but she didn't always feel that way.
Despite thinking the film lacked originality, back in 2018 she couldn't deny Lady Gaga's talent in the film. "I think it is wonderful. She is wonderful. Bradley told me he spent months with her working to see her real self," said Barbra to Extra.
"It starts like my old movie, with the concert, and he goes to a club and finds her. But they were able to put some new things in it, which I liked." In another interview with Extra, she went as far as to say she loved the film.
There's also a behind-the-scenes video featured on the DVD of A Star Is Born that shows Barbra visiting Bradley and Gaga on set, sharing laughs together, and seemingly having a great time. She's either an incredibly great liar, or she truthfully changed her opinion of the film over time.
Barbra Streisand certainly threw shade at the new A Star Is Born, but it doesn't look like it's implicated her relationship with Lady Gaga. According to online sources, the pair does get along quite well. "I call her Stefani, I can't call her Lady Gaga, but I understand why she calls herself Lady Gaga. I understand that person," said Barbra to Extra.
Lady Gaga sang Barbra's praises throughout the press tour for A Star Is Born as well. Both she and Bradley Cooper admitted in multiple interviews on the press tour that Barbra had given the two her blessing to star in the remake.
Lady Gaga has spoken at length about how much the film impacted her life, and will forever continue to do so. "I feel Ally inside of me. I wonder how long she’ll stay. Or if she’ll be in there forever," said the actress to Variety in 2018. It makes sense that she would feel such a deep connection to the character after filming because she's admitted to basing aspects of the character on herself. "The character of Ally is informed by my life experience, but I also wanted to make sure that she was not me. It was a cadence of both," said Gaga in an interview with Elle Magazine.
Bradley Cooper confirmed that the character is very much written in her image. "I wrote it for her, to play it. I asked her so many questions and wanted to mine so much of the things that she told me. That completely formed the creation of Ally," said Bradley to Elle Magazine. "We really were very vulnerable [together]. I had a lot of belief in her magic. It’s one thing to have a sense of it, and then watch it, before your eyes, every day, shooting."
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Tara is a seasoned freelance journalist based out of Austin, Texas. She loves all things Bravo and considers herself a Real Housewives aficionado. When she’s not watching reality tv, you can find her cuddled up with her puppy Norm by the pool, enjoying the latest NYTimes fiction best seller.
