During the press tour for A Star is Born Lady Gaga kept giving the same answer over and over again about only needing one person in a room of 100 to believe in you to find success. Thanks to a supercut of the repeated answer, it was a source of much laughter and a bit of cringing online, mostly at Lady Gaga's expense. But the singer has a defender in actor Jonah Hill, who loves Gaga's repeated answers, as he explained:
When it was going around, I think it was from a place of mean intent. But I thought to myself, damn, she really is an incredible actor. She's delivering those same talking points every night and making them sound new. That's acting.
That is a very interesting take and it's obvious that Jonah Hill is coming at the situation from a completely different perspective than most have over the last few weeks. As he mentioned to GQ, he viewed the attention that was called to Lady Gaga repeating the same answer as a bit mean-spirited. In fact, he thinks that it should not be ridiculed and it should actually be praised.
While everyone else was focusing on the fact Lady Gaga kept saying the same canned line at lots of different media interactions, the Mid90s director was noting how the actress' delivery made the line seem new and affecting each time. Jonah Hill saw as testament to her skills as an actress that she was able to do this night after night. In short, she was able to captivate those she was talking to with a touching and inspiring line, even if she had said it a dozen times before.
The line is sort of meant to paint Lady Gaga as an underdog, like her character Ally in the film itself, and inspire those listening that anything is possible and you can beat the odds. You can see the supercut of Lady Gaga saying the line in the video below:
You can see Jonah Hill's point if you view each time Lady Gaga says this line on its own and judge it independently. Viewed individually, the actress delivers the line differently each time. Sometimes it is a very affecting, emotional response, while others it sounds like a memorized soundbite and others it just seems like a genuine answer to a question.
You could make the case, as Jonah Hill seems to think, that she was intentionally delivering the line different each time to make it sound new or tailor it to her audience. It's really only when the clips are all grouped together and you become aware of how often she's said the same thing that the line's impact is lessened.
Jonah Hill also knows the realities of what press tours are like. He knows that you have to answer the same questions countless times and coming up with new things to say is a tedious process and no easy task. So, it's easy to see why he views Lady Gaga's approach of saying the same lovely sentiment every time, but in different ways, in a positive light.
Opinions will differ on Jonah Hill's take, but he certainly seems to be in the majority when it comes to praise for Lady Gaga as an actress. Although it played to her strengths, Lady Gaga has received great acclaim for the (surely) Oscar-bound A Star is Born.
A Star is Born is still playing in theaters now. For all of the biggest movies heading to theaters next year, check out our 2019 release schedule.
