I can’t remember the last time I purchased a ticket to a movie for opening weekend before anyone had even seen the movie, but I had to for A Star Is Born. Not only did I purchase the ticket, I memorized every line to Shallow, the debut single from the film, I’ve eaten up every Bradley Cooper profile or Gaga press appearance, and I’ve memorized every meme related to the film, making a few of my own. And I am not alone.
Why is the Internet so obsessed with a movie that we haven’t seen yet? It’s not about the plot. In fact, we care so little about the plot that we love the movie in spite of already knowing it (it is a remake, after all).
Our infatuation with this film probably has something to do with the leads, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. We all know Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, but do we know Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga? In some ways, Bradley Cooper is to film what Lady Gaga is to music. Their stars both rose in very expected fashions – his through typical male Blockbuster roles like an overgrown frat boy in The Hangover or a cheating husband in He’s Just Not That Into You and hers through beloved pop albums like The Fame and Born This Way and outlandish outfits and press appearances. He began to take on more serious roles like American Hustle or American Sniper as her music matured, as seen in her album Cheek to Cheek with Tony Bennett. He was on track to be the new Harrison Ford and she to be a modern Madonna, but they both flipped the script.
As both achieved what seemed like archetypal success in their lanes, they branched out and created something completely new and different. He took on roles that showed his deepest emotional ability, like Silver Linings Playbook, and she wrote her most intimate album, Joanne, while trying her hand at acting in American Horror Story. While both had always hidden their personal lives, they gave us insight into their inner selves through their work. They showed us an ability to be emotionally raw, and we eat ate it up. We didn’t know we craved more from them, but here we are, begging for this film that we’ve heard they’ve poured their hearts and souls into. Both stars are still private about their personal lives, as made evident by Bradley Cooper in a recent New York Times profile titled “Bradley Cooper Is Not Really Into This Profile.” But maybe, through this grandiose-looking film they say they’ve poured their all into, we will get a larger glimpse into the souls of two of the biggest stars on the planet.
Jenny Koff 