People are really starting to get jazzed about A Star is Born, and it's pretty easy to understand why. Lady Gaga is making a big move in her career by headlining the movie, and Bradley Cooper joins her as both co-star and director (his feature film directing debut, no less). The movie went the extra mile when it came time to recording its musical performances. This included traveling to New York City and filming on the set of Saturday Night Live. That's not something that everybody gets to do, but Cooper recently revealed that it was a pivotal moment in the movie.
I thought, 'How can we show the rise?' Saturday Night Live is the only place you can go when someone has arrived to a new spot [in their career]. There is nothing else. I asked Lorne Michaels. We had lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel and I said, 'Don't make me recreate it in L.A.' So we used all the crew, and that is the room --- that's the control room.
A Star is Born, which is the third remake of the original 1937 film, follows the story of Ally (Lady Gaga) a skilled songwriter and singer who doesn't feel comfortable performing her own songs. She is encouraged by Jackson (Bradley Cooper), an established musician battling his own issues, to pursue her dreams. Ally rises to stardom, performing at several memorable concerts and venues -- including a musical guest on Saturday Night Live. This moment is meant to reflect a turning point in her career, as a pop star and several other singers have gained a national platform singing on SNL.
Part of Bradley Cooper's goal as the director was to film the musical performances as if the audience was on stage. This gives the performances an almost documentary feel, which is to say it feels authentic. That authenticity comes from filming on location during live concerts. While they didn't film during an actual episode of SNL, A Star is Born did get to use the actual set and facilities -- including the crew and cameras, Lady Gaga noted to Entertainment Weekly.
We used their cameras too. We did the whole thing.
In addition to SNL, A Star is Born also filmed during Coachella, Stagecoach, and Glastonbury. All of these were impressively filmed during the actual concerts, including Lady Gaga's own Coachella performance. Kris Kristofferson, who actually starred in the 1976 version of the movie, let them use four minutes of his set during Glastonbury.
A Star is Born is set for the Oscar-friendly release date of October 5, 2018. To learn more about what movies are heading to the theater for the rest of the year, be sure to visit our 2018 movie release guide.
