Over the weekend Barbra Streisand appeared on an Australian talk show and dragged the Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper adaptation of A Star is Born. Barbra starred in the 1976 version, which was based on the iconic 1954 Judy Garland version, which was based on the original 1937 film starring Janet Gaynor.
Barbra, who visited the set and was photographed with Gaga, and gave the film a rave review when it was released, now says the 2018 version was “the wrong idea” and should have been more original, like her version … the third version … of the story.
Barbra says that when she starred in A Star Is Born she wanted it to be different than the other versions … unlike the original about an actress, or Judy’s about a musical movie star or Gaga’s about a rock-and-pop star, Babs played a “guitar-playing singer-songwriter” in her reboot. Yes, it was oh so very different. Barbra also now says she would have preferred an earlier proposal of the 2018 film that would have starred “integrated actors” like Will Smith and Beyoncé … so it would have been an R & B star?
“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 [the 2018 film] was to the version that I did in 1976.”
And then, as the knife pricks the skin, Babs jams it in farther saying:
“I don’t care so much about success as I do originality.”
Says the woman who made the third reboot of a film, but changed the lead from musical star to guitar playing star.
Damned if you honor Barbra, damned if you don’t.
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