Transcript
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Sunday on the Pod with... Casey, Flo and Rosa.
Speaker: Welcome to Sunday on the Pod.
Speaker: Sunday on the Pod is a podcast all about musical theatre.
Speaker: However, this podcast isn't just for performers, but it's for anybody who loves musical theatre.
Speaker: Each episode, we cover musicals that some of you may love, some of you might hate, or maybe you've never heard of them before.
Speaker: Either way, we will be singing and dancing about it.
Speaker: If you didn't already know, we pick a musical and we discuss its plot, the show's creators...
Speaker: dissecting specific songs lyrically, musically, delving into any juicy gossip from past and present productions, and my personal favourite, putting on our very own casting director hat and choosing our own fantasy cast.
Speaker: So what are you waiting for?
Speaker: Sit back and enjoy the pod!
Speaker: So how are we all girls?
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: I was waiting for you, Casey.
Speaker: I was like, oh, I was waiting for you.
Speaker: I love the suspense.
Speaker: Are we good?
Speaker: Are we not good?
Speaker: I'm good as well.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Yeah, you're Casey.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Casey, you're good kind of squeaked out of you there.
Speaker: It was like you had to convince yourself that you were good.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: I got absolutely ripped the living piss out of the other day when I was out with my uncle and some of our cousins were staying with us and we went out and we were at a cocktail bar and the waiter came over like maybe two minutes after we'd been seated and was like oh can I take your order but we just hadn't decided and for some reason I started to say like oh no would it be okay if we had a few more minutes but like my voice just got increasingly like higher and
Speaker: So I started off that, I was like, oh no, actually, sorry, could we have a couple more orders, please?
Speaker: I love the panic.
Speaker: It's so embarrassing.
Speaker: I love that so much.
Speaker: I have that, but I get really low.
Speaker: Like if I start to panic or if I'm under like, if I'm, okay, so say I'm in an argument with someone
Speaker: And I'm taking it really seriously.
Speaker: I suddenly speak really low and I get really angry.
Speaker: And I don't know why I get really low.
Speaker: I think I'm just like trying to ground myself in some weird way.
Speaker: But it just sounds weird.
Speaker: So I go the complete opposite way.
Speaker: I was just going to say, I get really, really aggressively mank when I get angry.
Speaker: What does that mean?
Speaker: Like Manchester.
Speaker: Oh, mank.
Speaker: M-A-C-H.
Speaker: Like M-A-N-C.
Speaker: Oh my god, M-A-C-H.
Speaker: MASH.
Speaker: I've never heard that expression before.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: You've never heard MASH?
Speaker: No, I've never ever heard that.
Speaker: oh god the uh the london's really jumping the true north south divide oh i was about to say that but i didn't want to turn it into that oh dear no but the thing is i'm not from manchester but that it just sorry my whole life is a lie what's happening so where are you from casey warrington which is to be fair
Speaker: it's it's i'm literally like 15 minutes away from manchester but if we get into the debate oh here we go because warrington isn't classed as manchester it's classed as cheshire but alden which is on the other side is classed as manchester but is further away to the center of manchester than i am so me and george always have this big this this big thing where he's like i'm from manchester and i'm like but you're not though are you
Speaker: I'm probably closer, closer to central Manchester than you are.
Speaker: It's so weird because UK geography is so political.
Speaker: Like you could say that your friends are like, no, you're not.
Speaker: Like they get really angry and I'm like, sorry.
Speaker: I just, yeah, it's just bizarre.
Speaker: Well, I've got a bit of exciting theatre news, not about me, but it was more that I saw a very, very good production that's just started at the Savoy Theatre at Sunset Boulevard.
Speaker: with Nicole Scherzinger.
Speaker: Woo!
Speaker: It was so good.
Speaker: And Nicole Scherzinger is...
Speaker: incredible like she is I mean obviously everyone loves pussycat dolls and it's only revived my love for pussycat dolls um but she is just like phenomenal and she suits that role so well and just honestly I don't want to give it away because it is it's something that I've never seen before there is so much that happens in it that you're like I can't all I'm gonna say
Speaker: beginning of act two that's all I'm gonna say just wait the beginning honestly that blew me away and like the audience was so receptive like they were so in it it felt like I was in America like they were so like wow like every single number like they were just so rowdy and I was like I love this it was honestly amazing so brilliant I love me plugging her
Speaker: I've loved her since she did that really random performance.
Speaker: I think it was at the Royal Variety Show.
Speaker: I can't remember where it was.
Speaker: But where she played... Oh, God, I can't remember.
Speaker: What is it called?
Speaker: Isabella?
Speaker: No, she was... Who is the lady from Phantom of the Opera?
Speaker: The lady.
Speaker: Christine?
Speaker: Christine, yes, sorry, Christine, Christine Daae.
Speaker: She played Christine Daae and she was fantastic.
Speaker: Well, I saw her in Cats.
Speaker: She sang Memory.
Speaker: I know and I went into it being like oh very very low expectations because you know with these things like oh classic pop singer being cast it's like oh here we go again but honestly she was even that I felt like I was being pinned back in my seat like her voice live is phenomenal I even did a small clap there you know it's it's that good
Speaker: She was always the star of the Pussycat Dolls.
Speaker: I know that there is like a bit of drama of those old performances where she's kind of stealing the limelight.
Speaker: With a voice like that, I'm like, honey, sing it out.
Speaker: Sing it out, Louise.
Speaker: Honestly.
Speaker: Not going to lie, Louise.
Speaker: Nicole Scherzinger bothers me a little bit because I used to get so angry at the Muller Corner adverts.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: She did a big stint in the Muller adverts, didn't she?
Speaker: And then it was at the end of every advert, she'd fall over and tip the yogurt onto her, but it would just be a blob on the tip of her nose.
Speaker: It was like the Muller light ones, wasn't it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Muller light.
Speaker: And she'd like fall over and tip yogurt onto herself.
Speaker: But then when it would like,
Speaker: put the shot onto a face, it would just be like a dollop of yogurt on the tip of the nose.
Speaker: Whereas if I did that, it'd be in my hair, it'd be in my eye, probably even my clothes as well.
Speaker: I wouldn't look as sexy.
Speaker: I never thought I would say this, nor have this as a category of things that I was talking about.
Speaker: But do you know who is my favorite musical theater star turned yogurt advertiser?
Speaker: Who?
Speaker: Martine McCutcheon.
Speaker: Martine McCutcheon was slaying the game with those Activia adverts.
Speaker: I love Martine McCutcheon.
Speaker: Me too.
Speaker: I would buy any yoghurt she tried to sell me.
Speaker: I'd love to be in a yogurt advert.
Speaker: What yogurt would you like to advertise?
Speaker: I think I'd like to be either Activia because they have the bit with the tummy or a Muller Light with the Greek style because they all dress up like they're Greek gods and I would like to be in that and I'd like to reenact a Greek god scene.
Speaker: So if you're listening, whoever casts Muller Light, when I get really super rich and famous, I want to be cast in that.
Speaker: I want to stay... I have a bob of yogurt on my nose.
Speaker: I want to stay grounded.
Speaker: I'm going to do munch bunch.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: Actually, wait.
Speaker: Okay, sorry.
Speaker: Can I retract my answer?
Speaker: Can I say froubes?
Speaker: I'd rather be up to froubes.
Speaker: That is a better answer.
Speaker: Solid choice.
Speaker: I'm trying to think of a yogurt that I would want to advertise, but I don't think I've got one.
Speaker: Pity faloo?
Speaker: Pity faloo?
Speaker: Pity faloo?
Speaker: Imagine the first sponsorship we get on the show and it's just like fribs.
Speaker: Yoghurt.
Speaker: Fribs.
Speaker: We could get cases of free fribs.
Speaker: Oh my god, that'd be so great.
Speaker: How would we work that into our podcast though?
Speaker: Like, if you listen very, very carefully, you might hear us opening a frib.
Speaker: No, there could be something where you're like, what do you think, Casey?
Speaker: And I could be like, oh, one second, I was just enjoying a frib.
Speaker: Oh, what flavour?
Speaker: Peach.
Speaker: Peach.
Speaker: Those are my favourite, actually.
Speaker: Yeah, the peach ones are really, really good.
Speaker: I've never ate a peach in my life, but I do like peach yoghurt.
Speaker: Casey, that's terrible.
Speaker: Were you scarred after watching Call Me By Your Name?
Speaker: Oh, I hate that movie.
Speaker: I know you love it.
Speaker: I hate it.
Speaker: I love that movie.
Speaker: Oh, no.
Speaker: Are we going to fall out over this?
Speaker: It's one of those films that like, now I think is problematic and now I think is quite dodgy.
Speaker: Well, obviously it's problematic now, but I mean, back then when it was created, I mean, everyone was like, oh my God, I want to be like that.
Speaker: And like, I listened to that, that album on repeat, like the music in that album.
Speaker: Probably let's do an episode on that because I do love the music.
Speaker: I mean, that's not even a musical, but I do love the music in that album.
Speaker: But no, you're right.
Speaker: A bit problematic.
Speaker: And so is Armie Hammer.
Speaker: I just find it really self-indulgent.
Speaker: And it is the same thing with Carol.
Speaker: And everyone's just like, oh, maybe it's because it's, like, guys.
Speaker: And I'm like, no, because Carol's just as bad.
Speaker: Honestly, me and Ewan, my cousin and flatmate, who is a gay man, when we first watched Call Me By Your Name, and to be honest, I can't even bring up... If I say, like, the word visions of Gideon, Ewan's, like, locking himself in his room with a bottle of wine.
Speaker: I love that song.
Speaker: There's something about that film...
Speaker: that even though I do think it's problematic now and I don't remember that like genuinely tears my soul from like inside out it makes me want to hide away for three days and cry and then it makes me want to come out and enjoy enjoy life yeah it's the beginning of the song with like the very like slow dramatic piano you're like oh here we go right I'm sinking I'm in a dark hole close the door never see me ever again for the next 48 hours like that's me or actually it's really good to listen to uh walking through the park it's very like
Speaker: therapeutic.
Speaker: Well, Casey, do you want to tell us what we're up to today?
Speaker: So, this week we are discussing... Drumroll plays!
Speaker: A star is born.
Speaker: You nailed it, Casey.
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: That was probably the worst one I've done yet.
Speaker: You kind of cheated it.
Speaker: You're like, ah, I know you didn't say, but it actually was.
Speaker: A star is born.
Speaker: The anticipation.
Speaker: More specifically, we're going to be chatting a bit more in depth about the 2018 version.
Speaker: Just a quick trigger warning before we get into it.
Speaker: There are some mentions of suicide, drug and alcohol addiction.
Speaker: So starting my research to see if there was some sort of franchise or to see if there's any correlation between A Star Is Born films, because many people know there are more than one, but there is in fact four.
Speaker: Apart from the obvious plot and names, in short, the answer is there is none.
Speaker: So then I was kind of like on a hunt to see why this film's been made so many times,
Speaker: And it just basically comes down to the fact that the plot is just a classic story and lends itself to every era as the characters in the relationship sort of transcend time and can be placed sort of anywhere.
Speaker: The overall plot just makes for a great story and the rise of one star while another fades away is sort of a classic trope in film and television.
Speaker: but the two characters being in love and intertwined with each other adds an extra dimension to the plot, which I think is why directors and producers are kind of drawn to the story.
Speaker: Because it is a really... It is a big cinematic, you know, sort of love story.
Speaker: I've never watched a movie that has been quite so, like, heart-wrenching.
Speaker: I guess also, like, it's got that element of, like, seeing someone...
Speaker: who's so famous and like rises to the top.
Speaker: And then, you know, that classic saying of like, the higher you go, the, the, that's not the phrase.
Speaker: What is it?
Speaker: The higher you climb, the bigger the fall or whatever.
Speaker: It's like a classic thing of like, the harder, the harder they come, the harder they fall.
Speaker: I don't think it's that.
Speaker: It is, isn't it?
Speaker: I thought it was like the higher you go, the harder you fall.
Speaker: Guys, you just said the harder they come.
Speaker: Yeah, I am so sure it's that.
Speaker: I don't think it's the harder they come.
Speaker: Me either.
Speaker: No, sorry.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: The bigger they come, the harder they come.
Speaker: I don't think it's that either.
Speaker: I promise you, I promise you, it's the bigger they come, the harder they fall.
Speaker: I don't know how it's meant to be talking about bravado.
Speaker: Well, yes, it's basically, yeah, watching someone fall from grace.
Speaker: It's like that classic thing of like people enjoy, it's a bit twisted, but people enjoy that kind of narrative, right?
Speaker: Where they see like a big celebrity fall from grace.
Speaker: Whether it's a narrative, whether it's real life, people find it entertaining.
Speaker: So I guess that's another element of the story.
Speaker: Yeah, it's kind of like, I'm not sure if anyone's familiar with All About Eve, but that's like a really classic movie in terms of like one star is rising and then another is kind of fading away.
Speaker: So it's like a big trope that's used in a lot of films and TV.
Speaker: But I think the fact that the two characters are actually in love with each other, it adds that extra sort of
Speaker: heartbreaking dimension into it.
Speaker: Yeah, and all that sort of thing into it.
Speaker: So I think that's why directors, producers are drawn to it in particular, because it's just a good story.
Speaker: So the four versions, we have one in 1937, one in 1954, one in 1976, and of course the one in 2018, most recently.
Speaker: So starring in the main role, we've had... Well, we can have a bit of a discussion about that, actually, because...
Speaker: Is it the main role?
Speaker: But as the rising star, should I say, we've had Janet Gaynor in the 37 version, Juvie Garland in the 54 version, Barbara Streisand in the 76 version, and of course, Lady Gaga in the 2018.
Speaker: In each version, the plot is more or less the same, just sort of pertaining to the era, so...
Speaker: you know, the plot points kind of happen in a similar way, but everything around it is a little bit different, obviously because you've got the thirties, fifties, seventies and modern times.
Speaker: So it, it, everything around it is a little bit different in the 1937 version.
Speaker: The leading lady is an actress and in the other three versions, she's a singer, but the plot still unfolds in the same way every time.
Speaker: Um, um,
Speaker: Names for the first three movies remain the same.
Speaker: So the character is called Esther in pretty much, I think it's in the first three.
Speaker: I think in the Judy Garland one, she changes the name halfway through, but she does start off as Esther.
Speaker: And her male counterpart is Norman.
Speaker: Apart from the 70s version where he's John Norman.
Speaker: There's no, in the 2018 version, this changes.
Speaker: There's no mention as to why, but to take an educated guess, it's probably just that Esther and Norman are now quite dated names.
Speaker: It's not, you know, they wouldn't really resonate with today's audience.
Speaker: But they retain the, so it's Norman Maine as the kind of aging star, the male lead.
Speaker: And they continued that kind of in the 2018 version because they say his name's Jackson Maine.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it like ties in with the last name.
Speaker: Yeah, they've tried to add a little bit of a touch to it.
Speaker: Another thing that they've kept the same in all four movies is one of my favourite lines from the film.
Speaker: is the I just wanted to take another look at you.
Speaker: In the 1937 version, obviously where it all started, it actually is, do you mind if I take just one more look?
Speaker: Which I feel like it's really romantic.
Speaker: It's really cute.
Speaker: Then in the 50s version, it's very similar to the 2018.
Speaker: It's, hey, I just wanted to take another look at you.
Speaker: It changes up in the 70s version for I was just taking another look, which I'm like...
Speaker: It's not as a, it doesn't ring the same, I don't think.
Speaker: It's not as sexy.
Speaker: No, it isn't, is it?
Speaker: I just wanted to take another look.
Speaker: It's a bit like, well, I could have another look.
Speaker: If you want.
Speaker: And then, of course, we have I just wanted to take another look at you from the 2018 version.
Speaker: Going into the casting of the actresses, so each actress could probably be hailed the biggest star of their time.
Speaker: So with each actress being incredibly popular in their respective eras, 2018 may have been a harder casting decision due to the sheer number of celebrities we have now, actresses and singers alike.
Speaker: I don't know about you, but I think that Lady Gaga was the right choice for the part.
Speaker: I think she proved her acting chops in American Horror Story Hotel.
Speaker: Don't know if anyone's seen that, but she was incredible in that.
Speaker: And is undoubtedly one of the biggest pop stars of the last decade.
Speaker: I think a big thing for the character has to be that she can't be too perfect and polished.
Speaker: and has to be a little bit rough around the edges.
Speaker: Well, there's a recurring theme that they mention in the films, and it's kind of outwardly talked about in the films, that other characters around them don't see them as, they see them as maybe pretty, but they don't see them as like,
Speaker: Yeah, it's not conventionally attractive.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly, conventionally attractive.
Speaker: So in the first film, they say like, oh, she's just not pretty enough for Hollywood.
Speaker: And obviously in the 2018 version, that's kind of Lady Gaga's character's
Speaker: Big hang up she says that other people have said that she'll never get famous because of her nose so and obviously we have Barbara Streisand who kind of beat all odds to get fame because she had managers tell her and producers tell her that they wouldn't hire her in films if she didn't have a nose job and she refused.
Speaker: But it's quite an odd thing because obviously every single one of these women, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga, some of the most beautiful women in the world, but they do share this quality that is...
Speaker: it's not that they're not pretty because they're they're stunning but they are not the typical Hollywood starlet they're kind of they have an edge or they have a kind of quirk I guess to them they have like a very quirky spirit as well and but they don't have the kind of typical uh western leading lady face I guess
Speaker: Yeah, it's a convention.
Speaker: It's kind of what they're not what society is telling us is, you know, a famous singer or famous actress should sort of look like, which is really odd considering each of them were probably the most famous person in the respective eras.
Speaker: But yet society's still kind of like, yeah, but they're not a looker sort of thing.
Speaker: It's that sort of weird.
Speaker: With the caveat, though, I suppose as well, that even by, even with them, with their quirks, even by Hollywood standard, they are the, they are, they are almost the standard.
Speaker: compared to you know just thinking about how Hollywood kind of treats like women of color for instance and things like that so it's they are like the the I suppose like the outcasts or they are the quirks of the mainstream I think it's important to say it's not that we're saying that these women are completely not the Hollywood standard because when we when I look at Lady Gaga I mean come on
Speaker: she is she's so beautiful stunning and in terms of like the hollywood lens she is she's white and she is blonde and she is so she does have those characteristic makeup so it's not to say that they are like so completely you know in the face of the hollywood beauty standard they kind of still are the hollywood beauty standard but they just have they kind of slightly exist outside but if that makes sense
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And what I think is really, another thing that I was looking at is all of these actresses, I mean, I can't really speak for Janet Gaynor because a little bit before my time, but each of these actresses is kind of hailed as a gay icon.
Speaker: And looking into that, interestingly, I saw a thing that was kind of like, what makes a gay icon?
Speaker: Because it's so eclectic, but also... You just know.
Speaker: You just know, yeah.
Speaker: It's such an eclectic list of mainly women.
Speaker: that seem to be like these big stars that everyone's just kind of drawn to and kind of get hailed as a gay icon.
Speaker: But I think it might be the sheer stature of their fame and sort of the stuff that they put out.
Speaker: I think it's also like what they stand for.
Speaker: Cause like I went to go see this really, really good exhibition at the V&A, the Diva exhibition, which is, if you haven't already seen it, you should go and see it.
Speaker: Cause it's basically like all the dresses of like icons.
Speaker: And I think it literally starts back in kind of the early 1900s and spans all the way up to today.
Speaker: And there's a dress from Lady Gaga in it.
Speaker: And it's like, they have these amazing ball gowns and like incredible outfits.
Speaker: They have like a RuPaul exhibition and like all these amazing things.
Speaker: And there's a whole bit about like, well, it isn't a whole bit, but you can kind of see elements of it where, you know, they have like Cher and you're like, oh my God, that is a gay icon.
Speaker: But it's like, it's the fashion.
Speaker: It's how they express themselves.
Speaker: It's the music they create.
Speaker: It's, I don't know.
Speaker: I mean, obviously, this is coming from someone who isn't gay themselves.
Speaker: But I can recognize qualities of those, like, dealers.
Speaker: Where I can 100%.
Speaker: It's like that inclusivity.
Speaker: That kind of, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's an interesting one as well because I think a lot of the time it is also to do with like Cher obviously has always been an absolute champion of LGBTQ plus rights and she has always affiliated herself with that scene but there are cases of people who are called gay icons who are they haven't meant to be like Donna Summer always springs to mind as like
Speaker: the gay icon.
Speaker: I love Donna Summer, but I'm not, I can't speak to her later life, but there was a particular time where she actually was quite actively homophobic.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: During the height of her fame, yeah.
Speaker: So it's quite an interesting one, like Donna Summer.
Speaker: And again, I'm not going to speak to what she was like later in life because I really don't know that.
Speaker: But that was like a label that was almost put on her without her wanting that or
Speaker: do you know what I mean, affiliating herself, but it's because she had, she had dance music and she had those beautiful outfits and she had such a mystique about her and obviously like Donna Summer, like the dance music was used so much like during, in the New York ball scene, so it's, but you know, it's not always like their political opinion or who they're affiliated with.
Speaker: There are some people who are like,
Speaker: you know on the uh unconsensually i guess labeled as gay icons without having done that much for uh the progression of lgbtq plus rights yeah and it's that's what i mean when i say it's eclectic like there's so many different like women that are put into this gay icon you know box that it's just so it's so strange to sit to try and sit there and
Speaker: nitpick what it is the qualities but I think it is just a massive mixture of everything I think a big thing is sort of performance presentation and like when you think of things like people like Dolly Parton and the way that she does her hair and her makeup and her outfits and she's so I think a big thing for a lot of them is it's women that aren't afraid to own the sexuality and
Speaker: I think they could be like the straightest woman in the world, but I think if they're going out there in these sexy outfits and kind of owning the femininity and... You should like unitards where it's like all like glitter and feathers and... Yeah, yeah, because what I was thinking about, I was sat going through the eras and I was trying to kind of go through, okay, so if there was like a 1980s version of A Star Is Born, who do I think would have played Esther?
Speaker: And then instantly I was like, oh, well, Madonna...
Speaker: Madonna would have had that in the bag because she's an actress who sings and also kind of puts out this image.
Speaker: And she's also got that quirk, that quirkiness that we were talking about where, you know, not quite mainstream, but, you know, it's kind of the glasses effect.
Speaker: I don't know if you've heard about that, but kind of in a lot of films where it's like, oh, I'm not pretty and I'm not conventionally attractive.
Speaker: And then they kind of take the glasses off.
Speaker: Oh, classic.
Speaker: Put on a dress and it's like, oh, wow, you were beautiful this whole time.
Speaker: She was pretty all the time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, we've briefly touched on it, but I had a little look at the writers and the creators of A Star Is Born, specifically the 2018 version.
Speaker: And as we mentioned, it is starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
Speaker: And the screenplay for the 2018 version was written by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters.
Speaker: And this is a bit of kind of fun fact.
Speaker: I didn't know this, but Eric Roth was also a part of the writing process for Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Dune.
Speaker: It was directed by Bradley Cooper and it was actually his first film that he directed.
Speaker: It was produced by Bill Gerber, John Peters, Bradley Cooper, a name that we've all heard before, Todd Phillips and Lynette Howell-Taylor.
Speaker: The music was led by Aaron Rettier.
Speaker: However, I have to say there was a heavy input from Lady Gaga and there was also notable other artists also involved.
Speaker: Actually, funnily enough, also including Mark Ronson, who... And I saw that name, I was like, I know that name.
Speaker: And he is an American DJ.
Speaker: He did...
Speaker: That Miley Cyrus song, Nothing Breaks Like Heart.
Speaker: And he did Uptown Funk.
Speaker: There's another one.
Speaker: I was going to say, isn't it Uptown Funk?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And he did the one with Amy Winehouse, Valerie.
Speaker: The budget, which I thought was very interesting.
Speaker: Now, can you guys guess kind of how much do you think the budget was for this movie?
Speaker: 2018.
Speaker: I'm going to say 2.5 mil.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm going way bigger.
Speaker: I'm going like 250 million.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: It's 36 million.
Speaker: It was so close.
Speaker: Both of you are really, really close.
Speaker: I'm going to give it to Rosa.
Speaker: But it was... Surely 2.5 is closer to 36 than 250.
Speaker: Yeah, but I love Rosa's ambition of being like, 250.
Speaker: Let's make it big.
Speaker: So the budget was 36 million and the box office brought home 436.2 million.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Rosie was there.
Speaker: I think it's also really important to note that it did incredibly well in the awards and it was nominated for a total of seven Grammy Awards and it won Best Pop Duo Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media for the song Shallow.
Speaker: It also won Best Film Music at the BAFTAs
Speaker: um and yeah i just think it's worth noting it did very very well um i also wanted to kind of just chuck in there uh a very interesting quote uh quote from bradley cooper uh and it was an interview in 2018 and it was more about him talking about the acting process of him
Speaker: having to play an addict.
Speaker: And he said, quote, I think because I'm 40, I've gone through a lot in my life.
Speaker: I was able to do it with joy because some people have asked me, it must have been hard to go to those places.
Speaker: But oddly enough, it was very therapeutic.
Speaker: You know, I've had an interesting road and I've dealt with similar things in my life.
Speaker: And I observed it in others close to me and addiction in general.
Speaker: And the main thing when I was writing it and specifically shooting it, I thought, gosh, when this movie comes out, if it does come out, I really want anybody to know deeply about this disease to say, yeah, this is a reflection of what it's like.
Speaker: Not a glossy version, but the real reality of what it's like to be an addict.
Speaker: It's an interesting quote when you've seen his performance, I think, because it is a very, very good performance.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: It is a more empathetic take on people with addiction kind of problems, which often maybe they're depicted as being quite selfish or...
Speaker: And actually, I think the film does a really good job of showing that it's a really debilitating disease.
Speaker: So I think that's probably his quote there is probably reflective of like his perhaps his own philosophy towards that, which is just really nice to see instead of seeing people who are kind of struggling with that demonized or made out to be bad people.
Speaker: Like, I don't think you ever think he's a bad person.
Speaker: You just think he's someone who's struggling, who maybe does bad things sometimes.
Speaker: But what's the plot, I hear you say.
Speaker: Don't worry, I've got you covered.
Speaker: So as Casey said, there has been four iterations of A Star Is Born, but interestingly, there is a secret fifth.
Speaker: There was a made for TV movie, I think in the 70s that was made that no one ever talks about in conjunction because it was so bad.
Speaker: So we are going to ignore it from our A Star Is Born lore, but it is out there on YouTube for anyone who wants to watch.
Speaker: So they all follow a similar structure and plot which appears to our all four films, which is we have a young female enginée who dreams of making it either as a film actress or as a singer songwriter.
Speaker: They are often described by their family and friends most often or just by themselves as not being pretty or not being pretty by Hollywood standards, as we've discussed.
Speaker: And then they meet a kind of famous ageing male star who has some form of alcohol or drug addiction.
Speaker: The ageing star instantly falls in love with the ingenue in a kind of chance encounter and helps her launch her career.
Speaker: Often they collaborate on a project together whilst engaging in a romantic relationship with her.
Speaker: And an interesting note is that they always marry very quickly after the proposal and in quite an intimate setting in a very small ceremony.
Speaker: The ingenue becomes essentially an overnight hit and whilst their career is growing, the ageing star's career is flatlining due to their alcohol dependency.
Speaker: Then the ageing star becomes jealous of their partner's success and humiliates them in a kind of embarrassing moment on stage, often when the young ingenue is receiving an award.
Speaker: The ingenue stands by the ageing star, vowing to help them through their sobriety at the expense of their own career.
Speaker: Sadly, the aging star commits suicide to allow the ingenue star to continue to shine.
Speaker: And then the ingenue honors the aging star publicly by kind of officially coming out and taking their last name and introducing their marriage to the world and their career continues to blossom.
Speaker: So applying that then to 2018 Stars Born, we have Lady Gaga, as discussed, as our ingenue and we have Bradley Cooper as our aging star.
Speaker: The film opens with Jackson Maine, Bradley Cooper, a famous country rock star disillusioned with fame with tinnitus, which I will say is a plot point that's never really fully realized.
Speaker: It seems like an odd thing they throw in there and a bad alcohol and drug habit.
Speaker: who just plays a sold-out show.
Speaker: After his performance, he looks for a bar to drink in and he ends up at a drag cabaret where he sees Ali, Lady Gaga, our young ingenue, perform La Vie en Rose.
Speaker: He's kind of taped on thin eyebrows and this kind of black wig.
Speaker: Ali lives with her chauffeur dad who thinks although Ali is extremely talented, he doesn't believe that she has the star quality to make it in show business.
Speaker: Jackson is instantly captivated by Ali and they go for a drink after the show where Ali, who has a fairly short fuse, punches a guy harassing Jackson for a foso.
Speaker: Jackson cleans up her hand and Ali sings him the beginning of a song that she wrote.
Speaker: Jackson is incredibly impressed, kind of falling in love with her, and invites her to a show the following night where she performs her song Shallow, which is one of the biggest hits of the movie.
Speaker: Jackson and Ali go on tours together and begin a romantic relationship.
Speaker: During a trip to the ranch that Jackson grew up on and where his father is buried, they find out that his brother Bobby, who is also his manager, has sold the land.
Speaker: Jackson and Bobby fight and Bobby reveals that they talked about the sale, but Jackson was too drunk to remember.
Speaker: Bobby then quits as his manager and accuses Jackson of stealing his voice.
Speaker: A music producer signs Ally to a label.
Speaker: Jackson initially is kind of very jealous, but then he eventually supports her as she begins to record music.
Speaker: Rez, the producer, manages her career towards kind of more pop and kind of tries to change her image to be more conforming to Hollywood.
Speaker: Jackson continues to spiral with his addiction and he misses one of Ally's concerts because he passes out.
Speaker: But they kind of make up and he proposes to her very cutely with a cut guitar string that he fashions into a ring and they marry the same day.
Speaker: Jackson and Ali begin to argue over their kind of different career trajectories.
Speaker: Ali is continuing to rise in popularity and Jackson is declining due to his addiction problems.
Speaker: Ali continues to lean into her pop career, bringing backing dancers on stage, dyeing her hair this kind of shocking orange and singing lyrics that are somewhat less soulful than her usual.
Speaker: There is a lyric that she sings, which is, why do you come around with an ass like that?
Speaker: uh ali then performs on snl um and jackson makes up with bobby which is great their arguments get progressively worse ali accuses jackson of being a drunk and treating her like his girlfriend not his wife and jackson calls out her shallow that's the little joke the lyrics and horrendously and i would say the worst point of the film actually the second worst part of the film is
Speaker: He calls her ugly, which is Ali's biggest insecurity.
Speaker: And it is a really, truly awful moment.
Speaker: And it's definitely rooted in the kind of addiction issues that he's going through.
Speaker: So Ali goes on to win a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, but Jackson invades the stage and he wets himself and he passes out due to the amount of alcohol that he has consumed that evening.
Speaker: After this, he goes to rehab to sober up and Ali wants to bring Jackson on tour with her so that she can look after him, but her producer Rez refuses.
Speaker: Rez angrily accuses Jackson of ruining Ali's career and later, after Ali lies to Jackson about the label cancelling her tour so she could stay home with him, he promises to come to her show that evening but instead he hangs himself in their garage.
Speaker: The film ends with Ali at Jackson's memorial concert.
Speaker: Her hair dyed back to its natural colour with kind of pared down makeup and no backing dancers.
Speaker: And she's performing a song that Jackson wrote about his love for her.
Speaker: And she introduces herself to the world for the very first time as Ali Main.
Speaker: So I think it's a nice time to delve into the music behind the musical.
Speaker: And one of my favourite songs in the
Speaker: this movie is shallow.
Speaker: I mean, very unoriginal, but I think, and it's probably one of the most popular songs as we spoke about in the musical.
Speaker: And shallow itself, I mean, classic me being a bit more muso.
Speaker: It is written in G major, not that important, but I thought I'd just let you guys know at home.
Speaker: And it's written in 4-4, which is a very simple kind of time signature, which I think kind of suits the,
Speaker: what the song is and kind of what it represents in the movie.
Speaker: It doesn't need to be complicated.
Speaker: It starts very slow, very steady, beginning in what we like to call MP, which basically had to be more technical.
Speaker: It's a mezzo piano, which basically translates to moderately quiet, which I think is an interesting way to begin the song because it kind of shows
Speaker: Ali and Jackson's relationship starting from a very small seed and how their love begins very kind of small and quiet and then it grows.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And you kind of hear this opening guitar motif, which basically actually I kind of didn't think about until I was really listening to the music.
Speaker: It's there for the majority of the song.
Speaker: Like it just repeats and repeats and repeats.
Speaker: There's no kind of like change in the beginning bit.
Speaker: It's just the same thing.
Speaker: If you listen back to it, even when vocally they change what they're doing,
Speaker: the guitar motif stays the same, which is kind of, it's nice, it's like a constant kind of background.
Speaker: And it has the same kind of rising and falling between the notes of G and E, which I just think is, again, it kind of adds that kind of simplicity of,
Speaker: them as characters and how simple love can be, kind of when it does happen.
Speaker: I think the other big thing to kind of think about is that as a duet goes, it really has a feeling of kind of call and response.
Speaker: So Jackson begins verse one and then he kind of, I mean, obviously as the movie lends to it, he introduces her on stage.
Speaker: But if you were to just kind of listen to it in isolation, it's almost like he's singing it and then she is giving him a response by singing exactly the same thing.
Speaker: It's kind of like a direct conversation with,
Speaker: between them um and uh during Ali's response uh you start to hear little kind of extra instrumental lines uh so you hear like a very small like cello line a very simple cello line including a bit of piano um and it's kind of
Speaker: It suggests this kind of building in musical support, but also it's that kind of building of Ali's confidence and that she's had the confidence to step on stage in front of thousands of people.
Speaker: And then suddenly it gets into the really, really famous bit that everyone knows, the chorus.
Speaker: which is suddenly sang forte and it's loud which basically translates to loud um and i remember the first time i heard this song it really does like it takes you by surprise the chorus because it's just like she just lets rip and it's almost like she's like right this is my moment um if you don't really know the lyrics the lyrics go i'm off the deep end what does i dive in i'll never meet the ground
Speaker: crash through the surface where they can't hurt us.
Speaker: We're far from the shallow now, which I think is really poignant for what her character is going through, that she's just like, screw it, I'm just going to go for it.
Speaker: And I mean, this is probably me maybe looking into it a bit too much as an actor, but it's that kind of thing of,
Speaker: falling deep in love with someone versus her lyric of shallow.
Speaker: And it's that kind of like oxymoron to be specific of her love for Jackson being so deep, but it's really tragic because ultimately it ends with shallow, which is kind of, it almost kind of predicts where their relationship is going and where it's heading.
Speaker: And then after the chorus,
Speaker: they kind of have a whole bit where they're like, in the shallow, and they kind of sing that over and over again.
Speaker: That was a terrible rendition of it.
Speaker: In the shallow.
Speaker: I like that version.
Speaker: In the shallow.
Speaker: Hello.
Speaker: Where they basically repeat the lyrics in the shallow, shallow, in a kind of descending figure, which is a bit kind of like, it's a bit like water, you know, like how water is kind of rippling.
Speaker: And then she kind of has, I mean, classic Lady Gaga.
Speaker: I love the bit when she's, she's not even singing words, but she's like singing, ah, it's like classic Lady Gaga.
Speaker: And then again, the song kind of finishes with another chorus, classic kind of pop style writing, like verse, verse, chorus, chorus.
Speaker: And again, that feels like a really big finish.
Speaker: And it's kind of signifying,
Speaker: the fact that her career is taking off and that their relationship is solid, it's really, really strong.
Speaker: I think a really important lyric in this song is the bit where she says, like, crash through the surface.
Speaker: I feel like that's a really important lyric for her as a character because that is essentially what she's doing in the song.
Speaker: And again, I love a good quote.
Speaker: I can't help myself.
Speaker: I really, really love a good quote.
Speaker: And in the Good Housekeeping interview in 2019, Lady Gaga talked about Shallow and she says, the words signify a time when men and women are having an open dialogue with each other.
Speaker: And quote, that conversation is what makes the song successful and beautiful and why people cry when they hear it.
Speaker: It's because that man and women connect and they are listening to each other, which I thought was really nice.
Speaker: Yeah, it's really nice.
Speaker: But then again, not to be adversarial all the time, but I find that quite interesting.
Speaker: Maybe I'm going to, maybe I'm now I'm even arguing with myself about whether they are truly ever having a dialogue.
Speaker: I suppose she's quite good at the start and it's something I'm going to talk about later.
Speaker: of she kind of knows going into this relationship that he is not on a good path.
Speaker: Within the first couple of days of her meeting, she kind of, of their meeting, she kind of says like, oh, you know, this drinking, do you do this quite often?
Speaker: Or, you know, I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be doing that or I'm not going to be picking you up all the time.
Speaker: So it kind of starts out on what I think she knows is like a downward spiral, I guess.
Speaker: But maybe it's just her saying, well, yeah, I kind of know that this journey is maybe not going to end the best, but I just have to be on it anyway.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think it's this kind of classic trope of, like, I can change him.
Speaker: That sort of where, or like the hope is that maybe he will change if...
Speaker: she's if she's with him or like if she's there it's that kind of like heartbreaking thing of maybe it's it's kind of going into that with positive like positive thoughts of this isn't going to be what it's like forever
Speaker: Well, I think it's interesting that you guys brought that up because I didn't know this, but Shallow actually wasn't supposed to be a duet originally.
Speaker: And Bradley and the co-writer Mark Ronson, that famous DJ that we mentioned earlier, they said that the emotional ballad was originally supposed to be a solo by Lady Gaga.
Speaker: And then Bradley, as being the director, kind of had a moment where he basically said like a duet is the best way to utilise it in the movie, like as a song.
Speaker: And he kind of said that like when they did like the first kind of stage performance of it, that he really heard it as a duet, which I thought was just very interesting because I couldn't picture it as a one person song now.
Speaker: What about you girls though?
Speaker: What's your favourite song from A Star Is Born?
Speaker: The song that I've always kind of taken away from the film as being my favourite is Always Remember Us This Way.
Speaker: And I suppose just before we go into this, it would be good to kind of talk about why we were covering A Star Is Born because technically it is not a musical.
Speaker: It is a musical film.
Speaker: And I think the reason why we are covering it, one, even though it's not a musical, it's definitely within the musical theatre family, as a lot of these kind of older musicals are.
Speaker: It's not a typical kind of musical film in the sense that
Speaker: it utilizes non-diegetic songs.
Speaker: So just to recap again, non-diegetic songs are typically used in musical theatre and non-diegetic is basically a fancy word for a song that doesn't exist within the world.
Speaker: So it is a song that the character is singing and it is a reflection of their thoughts, but it's not a song that everyone else can hear, if that makes sense, within the world of the musical.
Speaker: A diegetic song is a song, say there was a scene in the musical where they're playing something on the radio and they all sing along to it and they dance.
Speaker: That is a song that exists within the world of the musical and they all know it's a song.
Speaker: So that is the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic music.
Speaker: Would you say like that would be like La Vie Bohème in Rent?
Speaker: Do you think that would be...
Speaker: um no but do you know is an example of a diegetic song in rent is over the moon because that's part of the performance so the crowd knows that it's a song or um the song he sings at the end as well because he sings
Speaker: That really great song at the end.
Speaker: The one that he's doing his whole career writing.
Speaker: Yes, but a non-diagetic song is, of course, we as the audience recognise it as a song, but within the worlds of the musical, it is just a vehicle for us to enter into the character's innermost thoughts.
Speaker: So obviously A Star is Born, this version and the Barbra Streisand version, because they are centred in the music business and they are songwriters.
Speaker: They are diegetic songs that they are mainly using because it's songs that everyone in the world recognises songs.
Speaker: It's songs that they're playing at concerts, that they're playing on the radio, that they're doing performances of.
Speaker: And there's never...
Speaker: meant to be a kind of typical musical theatre moment where Ali's sitting in the kitchen and suddenly she's doing a ballad that she hasn't written.
Speaker: But I think what's very interesting about these films is, and especially the 2018 version, is the way they kind of blur that line sometimes.
Speaker: So Always Remember Us This Way, I think, is a perfect example of this because it is a song that Ali has written.
Speaker: It's didactic within the scope of the musical.
Speaker: She is playing it for a crowd.
Speaker: But the lyrics reflect her innermost thoughts and her relationship with Jackson at that time.
Speaker: And the way that it's directed on stage is she is, there is long, long passages of this song when she first plays it at the concert on the piano, where she is just looking right into his eyes and the whole world is kind of melting around them.
Speaker: And for me, that's where the kind of line blurs between the song that she has written or her
Speaker: or her kind of revealing inner thoughts, I guess.
Speaker: So before we kind of look at the lyrics and see where that is, just a little bit about the song.
Speaker: I would say it's arguably the second biggest number from the movie, apart from Shallow, and it was written by Lady Gaga, Natalie Hemby, Hilary Lindsay and Laurie McKenna, and it was produced by Dave Cobb and Lady Gaga.
Speaker: It was nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammys the year after Shallow was, because I think they released Shallow early and then released Always Remember Us This Way after the film came out.
Speaker: And really interestingly, it was recorded immediately after the songwriters finished composing it.
Speaker: They were just so excited about it.
Speaker: And Hilary Lindsay, one of the songwriters who had actually collaborated with Gaga on my favourite Lady Gaga album, Joanne.
Speaker: I know that's controversial.
Speaker: Mine too.
Speaker: It's mine too.
Speaker: It's a great album.
Speaker: It's a fantastic album.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: I think that is Lady Gaga at her very, very best lyric rating.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: But in the big fandom world of Lady Gaga, everybody hates it.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Oh, they hate Joanne.
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: I think it's because...
Speaker: it's not campy and it's not classic Gaga in like, it's all out there.
Speaker: It's really stripped back.
Speaker: And it's almost like, they're all quite personal.
Speaker: There are a few like John Wayne and things like that, that I think kind of the exception on that album.
Speaker: But I think it is that kind of, it's kind of stripped back.
Speaker: It's not Gaga being like,
Speaker: you know, all out there and like campy and things like that.
Speaker: So I think it's kind of, everybody got really excited thinking they were going to have like a big dance anthem and all that kind of thing.
Speaker: And it was kind of just this, these beautiful lyrics and everyone was kind of like, oh,
Speaker: So, yeah, Hilary Lindsay, so she collaborated on Joanne, so thank you Hilary Lindsay.
Speaker: And she kind of has this great quote about immediately after when they recorded the number that she said that Lady Gaga had...
Speaker: basically become so ingrained with the character of Ali.
Speaker: She said she was living in the hurt and the ache of Ali losing the love of her life.
Speaker: We all just wanted to hug her.
Speaker: She was so broken up and in so much raw pain, which I think is very interesting because at that point in the film, she has not lost the love of her life.
Speaker: This is kind of in the first third of the film and their relationship is still really going strong.
Speaker: And I'll talk about in a bit how I think this song acts as like a foreshadowing
Speaker: and as a kind of through line of Ali's thoughts.
Speaker: And I think that quote really says that though.
Speaker: She's acting in this pain.
Speaker: Well, this pain hasn't technically happened yet for her character.
Speaker: One of the other songwriters, Laurie McKenna, she said that the songwriting process for this number was extremely powerful.
Speaker: The lyrics made them really, really tearful.
Speaker: And actually quite interestingly, they decided at that moment
Speaker: the Maybe It's Time, which is a song that Jackson Maiden sings.
Speaker: They said that was Cooper's character's song and always remember this way belonged to Ali, which I think is quite nice.
Speaker: So just a bit by the song, it's a country ballad and it is in common time, performed in A minor and it has like a fairly slow kind of tempo.
Speaker: So as I've kind of said, I feel like it is
Speaker: kind of non-diegetic and it blurs that line the lyrics feel to me as if Ali is kind of reflecting and foreshadowing on their time together despite it being right at the beginning of their relationship um and I kind of get the sense that she's almost mourning a love that is not yet lost but she is anticipating it being lost um because just within the context of their relationship they've actually only been dating a few weeks at this point
Speaker: um where it comes in in the show is Ali is on tour with Jackson she's written the song during their tour and Jackson has surprised her uh by saying okay we're gonna do an encore I really want you to do that number um she doesn't want to but she eventually does she takes I think like a shot of um I'm not sure what it is but it looks it's like a white liquor so maybe it's like tequila or something she takes a shot and she goes and she runs it out um and she begins solo on piano and then halfway through uh Jackson and his band join her
Speaker: So let's take a look at some of the lyrics and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as well.
Speaker: So the first verse, the Arizona sky burning in your eyes, you look at me and babe, I want to catch on fire, which is, I think like just a great lyric because that is definitely how when you're in those like first kind of exciting few weeks of seeing someone, you definitely are like, oh God.
Speaker: It's buried in my soul, like California gold.
Speaker: And then this is the line.
Speaker: you found the light in me that I couldn't find.
Speaker: So obviously this is kind of referring to the fact that when she first meets him, he recognises this great talent within her, but she has refused up until that point to sing her own songs.
Speaker: She's kind of hiding behind this mask.
Speaker: He's kind of forced her to come out and sing her own songs and kind of take up this space and find kind of the light within her, which I think is quite nice.
Speaker: I also would just like to say, I don't know whether it was written to the script or whether it was a kind of directorial decision, but that scene where she has those glued on eyebrows and he asks if he can take one off.
Speaker: And it's obviously because he's like breaking down her walls and he's breaking down the mask that she's like put on for herself.
Speaker: Gorgeous.
Speaker: It is,
Speaker: an absolutely gorgeous scene to me, that him taking off that eyebrow, it does something to me.
Speaker: That mirrors, is it in the Judy Garland one where she's wearing a prosthetic and he takes it off and he's like, your face is just dandy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Cute.
Speaker: But I will say, I quite like the, he, because as someone who's been insecure about their nose from,
Speaker: since she was born who has recently come to love her nose yeah I have a big thing about my nose because it's kind of got like a bump in it I know it's it's a really weird thing I used to think I would always get a nose job but now I feel really stupid because I actually really really like my nose like I genuinely love my nose um I quite like in the film that she says because Lady Gaga has quite similar nose to me I think not to take my own horn I've got a similar nose to Gaga that's nice
Speaker: but she's like oh yeah it was kind of they said it was too big and I quite like that he doesn't say oh no it's not too big um and plays into that kind of beauty standard he's like oh no it is big but I love how big it is like I think it's beautiful as big as it is I love that I think that is so gorgeous it's like the equivalent of when someone's like and I'm speaking as a plus size girl when you're like
Speaker: oh, I'm plus size, and they're like, oh my god, no, you're not.
Speaker: And you're like, no, I am.
Speaker: Yeah, like, if you're like, oh, I'm fat, and they're like, oh, you know what, you're beautiful.
Speaker: And you're like, okay, well, I never said I was ugly.
Speaker: I'm both, yeah.
Speaker: I never said I was ugly.
Speaker: Yeah, but I really like that.
Speaker: I like that he's like, yeah, but I love it.
Speaker: I can't stop looking at it.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: And then later when she has the billboard, I think he...
Speaker: she's like, oh, it's not a great angle for my nose.
Speaker: And he's like, I wish it was bigger.
Speaker: He just loves her big nose.
Speaker: So then we go into the pre-chorus.
Speaker: So when I'm all choked up, but I can't find the words, every time we say goodbye, baby, it hurts.
Speaker: Which, again, going back to this foreshadowing thing and me feeling like this song is
Speaker: blurring this line between diegetic and non-diegetic but also blurring I think the pace and the time of the movie this feels to me like a song that should almost come at the end of the film but it comes so early on and for me it's transportative in that time that's not a word but I'm saying it because it feels like we jump to the end we jump to Ali reflecting on this relationship but it's not quite happened yet I find it such an interesting song
Speaker: um because if we think about their relationship they actually haven't really said goodbye um he meets her one night the next night he's like so she goes to the show and then she goes home after the show the next day surprises her in a bedroom so they've not actually said goodbye at this point um so obviously again just really hammering this nail home but um it feels like it's a foreshadowing of the kind of final goodbye
Speaker: um then we have the chorus when the sun goes down obviously the sun goes down is quite a typical metaphor for when people die and the band won't play again another metaphor for when people die um i'll always remember us this way she's kind of foreshadowing here again or she's foreseeing that this is gonna go badly and this is the peak it's like she already knows this is the peak and they've only just begun
Speaker: she's this is where I feel like she's really burning for the end of this romantic relationship or the end of his life even though she's still experiencing it she's nostalgic almost for the present that she is currently experiencing for me it reads like a song that you would you would play or you would write years after a love affair but she's writing it right at the start of it I just think it's so interesting
Speaker: Then, the part of me that's you will never die.
Speaker: This is kind of my big issue with the A Star Is Born franchise.
Speaker: But she's obviously directly foreshadowing his death.
Speaker: But the part of me that's you will never die.
Speaker: Obviously, you know, when you love someone and you're in that kind of partnership, you do take on a piece of them.
Speaker: But for me, that kind of foreshadows her at the end taking on, because she very famously has set up her pop career.
Speaker: And it's like, this is Ali.
Speaker: She's just kind of, she's got a mononame.
Speaker: She's Madonna kind of thing.
Speaker: And then she introduces herself at the end.
Speaker: And they all do this throughout all four films as Ali Main.
Speaker: And she takes on his name.
Speaker: And I saw a really, really interesting quote that said, her career now stands as a tribute to the man that she loved.
Speaker: which I think kind of perfectly sums up the ending of each A Star is Born.
Speaker: And it kind of brings me to this kind of discussion that we maybe want to have, which has been a criticism of all four films, that even though it's meant to be about the titular star and it has these big names attached, often the story centres much more on the kind of aging star, the male lead and his struggles with addiction.
Speaker: And the kind of female character, the ingenue, she kind of just exists in his world and it's kind of moved around.
Speaker: We never really see much of kind of her own character progression.
Speaker: So this has been a strong criticism of all four films.
Speaker: And I suppose I would just like to get your gal's thoughts on whether we think the Bradley Cooper, the 2018 movie, managed to crack that.
Speaker: I think...
Speaker: Yes and no.
Speaker: I feel like in the relationship, it's sort of... I mean, I think he has more agency, but I think that was just naturally how the relationship was going to go.
Speaker: But I think outside of the relationship, it is definitely more about him and his sort of struggles.
Speaker: And, like, you see a lot more of his friends and his family...
Speaker: So yeah, I think he kind of exists outside of the relationship a lot more than she does.
Speaker: But I do think that she is involved a lot more during the film than in the Barbra Streisand one.
Speaker: That was a big criticism that people said that she was hardly in it.
Speaker: It was more about him and his rise and fall rather than hers.
Speaker: So I think they did... Yes and no would be my answer to that.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting because I think, like, a star is born could mean so many different things.
Speaker: Like, a star is born in terms of, like, her career has taken off, but also, like, a star is born because he gave her that opportunity, because of what he did, because of his life.
Speaker: And I guess, like, also, it's a bit ambiguous because it's like, yes, in the end he dies, but it's like,
Speaker: It's that thing of like, I don't know, this might be me being too deep, but like with stars, a lot of famous people, they do die quite tragically.
Speaker: And it's like, you don't know how the rest of the story is going to go.
Speaker: Like the rest of the story could be that they're like, we remember this amazing singer Jackson or Maine or whatever.
Speaker: So it's complicated because I think it would be really interesting to see a version where it is more about like,
Speaker: Lady Gaga's character and to see her backstory because that is something that I do wish they touched on more and yeah, I mean the Barbra Streisand version absolutely, I wish that she was in it more because it's Barbra Streisand but
Speaker: Yeah, it's like, it's complicated because then it becomes about like her backstory.
Speaker: Whereas I think his backstory is so, is so important to flesh out that when he does eventually commit suicide, I think the impact is so kind of like, it hits you so deeply because you know all of his backstory.
Speaker: But I agree.
Speaker: I'm on the same fence case where I'm like, I agree, I disagree.
Speaker: Like, well, not even disagree.
Speaker: I'm on both sides.
Speaker: where I think it's nice that they, in the 2018 version, they lay out so much of his life.
Speaker: But also saying that, I think that I don't always like seeing women in a role where they're portrayed as like, their career's going so, so well, but ultimately we're going to focus on the man's life.
Speaker: And I think it would be interesting to see a version of,
Speaker: where it's like maybe it's from her like you see more of her life I think I think there's room for both I don't think it has to be a story just about her um I think I agree with you stars born I think can refer to the many light years that it takes for a star to die as well so I think it I see it as like a star is born a star dies is like yeah it's reflecting both of their journeys and I think there is space for that there's been like
Speaker: The Way We Were is like a film, it's a Barmissarism film that I just absolutely adore.
Speaker: And it's about two people who fall in love, who come from, he's kind of like, I think he's kind of like a Republican, she's kind of a communist.
Speaker: And it's gorgeous.
Speaker: And they both have such great agency in it.
Speaker: And both of them develop and it's really beautiful.
Speaker: So I think there's space for both, basically, is what I'm trying to say.
Speaker: I think in this particular film, I did really like, I wouldn't want to lose any of Jackson's
Speaker: backstory with his brother and with his father and with his struggles with addiction because I think those are really important but I agree with you Flo I would have liked to see more of Ali's backstory her relationship with her father why she's kind of taking care of him in this way and his friends this kind of sense of community that they seem to have in this house I'd love to see that
Speaker: I'd also love to see, because obviously there's an interesting aspect where he feels that she's kind of losing herself to this pop world and I think she's feeling that too but we don't really get a sense of actually talking about it.
Speaker: Agreed, yeah.
Speaker: I'd love to see her taking more ownership of her own art, maybe her standing up to the producer or her battling with that decision of what's better to kind of conform slightly and be successful or stay true to what you are and instead we kind of just have him quite patronisingly tell her like, oh you're
Speaker: don't lose sight of who you are which is important but I just I want to see her I want to see her realise that you know and I just and this is not I would like to say this with a caveat I genuinely love this film and I find it very moving and I think it's a really wonderful adaption and I think it's beautifully directed as well but I do leave the film and I feel like I don't know Ali I just don't really know much about her or
Speaker: what she likes or who she is she feels sometimes I think she feels like a reflection of the men around her so with her friend obviously and that that kind of drag bar she feels like a reflection of that culture and then when she meets Jackson she kind of feels like a reflection of him and then when she with her dad she feels like a reflection of him and same with the producer I guess I just wish um I wish I just knew her more
Speaker: So one of my favourite songs in the film is I'll Never Love Again, which I think we've previously discussed comes at the end of the film, just before she announces herself as Ali Main.
Speaker: It's kind of like this epic ballad sang at the end of the movie during a tribute concert for Jackson after his death.
Speaker: Ali sings a song that Jackson wrote but never recorded prior to his death, sort of foreshadowing his own death since the lyrics sort of pertain to losing a lover.
Speaker: So it's also, there's kind of a lot of foreshadowing throughout the whole film, but this one definitely, like if you listen to the lyrics, let me just get the lyrics up here.
Speaker: So it's don't want to feel another touch, don't want to start another fire, don't want to know another kiss, don't want another name falling off my lips, don't want to give my heart away to another stranger.
Speaker: So it's kind of this, I want to stay with you forever, I don't want to have to fall in love with anybody else because I will never love anybody else.
Speaker: So yeah, it's sort of foreshadowing that somebody's not always going to be there.
Speaker: It's such an emotional song and that bit that really breaks your heart is the swift cut at the end from Ali singing on stage to a flashback of Jackson singing the song with Ali.
Speaker: It's just him and his guitar, I think.
Speaker: And it's in a happier moment in their lives.
Speaker: But it's such a quick cut to that shift into Ali singing into Jackson.
Speaker: it really kind of I don't know that's the bit that got me at the end of the film like how quickly that cut to just like a happier moment in their lives I thought it was really sad yeah because it's he's just come home from rehab and it seems like he's he's doing really well and they're just they're so happy to be back with one another and she has found the lyrics hasn't she
Speaker: yeah she's maybe looking amongst his things and she says to him I'd really love to hear how you hear how you hear this because that's something that he said to her how do you hear this these lyrics even but they never show you that it then just cuts away to something else so then they bring it back and you hear him say and you're so right it is it's devastating and it's you really hear his like voice come through
Speaker: It's such a tearjerker.
Speaker: Like even on the recorded version, when he comes in, you're like, oh, like you suddenly like, you can really feel like she's like, oh God, you can really like see.
Speaker: Yeah, I think she just gives such an amazing performance during that scene.
Speaker: and you can kind of feel that, I don't know, it's kind of like a punch in the gut sort of feeling.
Speaker: I think she gets that across quite well.
Speaker: But also a little fact about that scene is that something that makes Gaga's version all the more emotional and raw is that about 10 minutes before the initial shooting of the scene, she got the call that her best friend, Sonia Durham, who had been battling cancer for quite a while,
Speaker: She got a phone call that she was dying, that this was basically like, that they think this is the end.
Speaker: So she swiftly left the set, but sadly before she got there, Sonia had already passed.
Speaker: So she stayed there with, I think she stayed there with Sonia's son and her husband for a couple of hours and then kind of said to her husband, I don't know what to do.
Speaker: And he said, go back and finish like what you've started.
Speaker: Like that's what Sonia would have wanted.
Speaker: So she came back to set and filmed that song, like filmed that scene.
Speaker: My God.
Speaker: Yeah, which I never knew that.
Speaker: And I saw an interview of her talking about it and saying that, yeah, so she kind of had to, like what other people were saying is that she kind of really got into the role of Ali and was kind of living life as Ali.
Speaker: She said that she kind of had to mourn the loss of Ali's loss of Jackson at the same time as the loss of her best friend, which was, she said, was really, really sad, but ultimately led to such a beautiful...
Speaker: rendition and like such a beautiful scene the song itself feels quite timeless it doesn't feel like a typical gaga song obviously gaga didn't write this song she writes most of her own things but the song almost feels like it could fit into any sort of any version of a star is born if it had some sort of slight tweaks i think
Speaker: it feels quite timeless and it feels it doesn't feel as modern kind of becomes this sort of classic ballad to me it sounds quite i don't know like quite uh especially at the beginning it sounds quite similar to barbara streisand's some of barbara streisand's songs in the 70s version which i think maybe has been done intentionally um
Speaker: to kind of make it feel like more of a classic song rather than all the pop that we've been hearing throughout the rest of the film.
Speaker: Yeah, and she comes out as well and she has dyed her hair back brown and she's kind of made up like this kind of classic Hollywood star that's wearing this like beautiful dress and her hair's up.
Speaker: So yeah, you do kind of get that sense, isn't it?
Speaker: It almost could be a scene out of any of the other A Star Is Born because
Speaker: it's on like a concert stage and it doesn't feel like this kind of rock and roll like country yeah thing that we've had before yeah it feels quite lifted from everything else that we've seen which i think obviously is done purposely um but yeah i just think it's a really really beautiful ending and obviously with that cut to jackson at the end it's quite a nice
Speaker: It's a really beautiful cinematography, I think, at that moment.
Speaker: It really is reminiscent to... I don't know if you've seen the movie Beaches.
Speaker: And that's what it reminded me of Beaches too.
Speaker: Yeah, it's really, really... I mean, that's one of my all-time favourite movies.
Speaker: Anything that Bette Midler is in is at top of my list.
Speaker: But it's kind of that same moment of she kind of loses her best friend and then it kind of cuts to her on stage singing a tribute song to her friend.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then kind of ends with that sort of fade to black as she's walking off stage, which that's what it really reminded me of.
Speaker: I actually listened to a really funny podcast the other day where they were discussing Wind Beneath My Wings from Beaches.
Speaker: And they were kind of looking at the lyrics and they were basically like, it's a horrible song.
Speaker: Because Cece Bloom, who's Bette Midler's character, is essentially saying, I'm really sorry that I didn't let you shine.
Speaker: like you've always been like the support character and I've never thought that when I listened to Wind Beneath My Wings I've always thought oh what a gorgeous song about like female friendship but then actually when they were looking at the lyrics it's basically like um but yeah I'm really sorry that like I was a star and you were you were just a wind beneath my wings to be fair in the movie it is obvious that her friend doesn't want that sort of limelight although there is there is a moment where she kind of says that she's jealous of her but
Speaker: She doesn't want... She's, like, not an actress nor a star.
Speaker: And, like, I think she's studying law.
Speaker: It must have been cold there in my shadow to never have the sunlight on your face.
Speaker: You were content to let me shine.
Speaker: That's your way.
Speaker: You always walk to step back.
Speaker: It's a tribute to her friend.
Speaker: So I was the one with all the glory.
Speaker: A beautiful face without a name for so long.
Speaker: A beautiful smile to hide the pain.
Speaker: It's pretty brutal.
Speaker: It is a brutal, brutal song.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it is nice, but like, it is a bit like, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You're in my shadow.
Speaker: Anyway, moving swiftly on to our little camper gossip corner.
Speaker: which I just want to talk about the chemistry between Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, because I don't know if anybody else saw the 2019 Oscars performance.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: That kind of makes everybody cringe, but just cringe, not in a bad way of like, oh, this performance is cringey, in the way of, oh my gosh, I can't imagine how his wife is feeling right now.
Speaker: Is he still with his wife?
Speaker: Because he is.
Speaker: Nope.
Speaker: They announced a divorce three months after the Oscars performance.
Speaker: And did Lady Gaga split up with Taylor because they were engaged?
Speaker: Was that around the same time?
Speaker: Oh my god, why didn't I clock this?
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Oh my gosh.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: Do you know, nothing's made me ever, I don't know if anyone's seen that Michael Scott gif from The Office where he's like.
Speaker: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker: Grimacing.
Speaker: It's so awkward because they get up to perform shallow.
Speaker: And I don't know about you, but like,
Speaker: I feel like if you're performing a song, you're performing a song at the Oscars.
Speaker: You're not acting.
Speaker: It's not like a performance gig.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So they kind of get up and she's sort of sat at the piano.
Speaker: He's stood up.
Speaker: They don't sing out.
Speaker: They sing to each other.
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: They are facing each other on the stage.
Speaker: I remember this.
Speaker: And she sits down.
Speaker: She sits down to play her part on the piano.
Speaker: He then decides that he's going to leave his spot and he comes and sits down next to her at the piano to which she turns to him and it really briefly looks like she's going in for a kiss.
Speaker: She really like turns in, goes to his lips and then looks away really quickly.
Speaker: Carries on to the end of the song and she kind of like rests her head on his shoulder and they kind of just look at each other for like two minutes and
Speaker: And then I don't know if anyone can remember because every time I've looked it up on YouTube, it kind of swiftly ends after the song ends.
Speaker: But during the actual Oscar ceremony, it did cut to his wife and she's like sat there smiling and clapping.
Speaker: And you just know that that woman is seething.
Speaker: Do you think, though, that they did that for publicity?
Speaker: Like, do you think that they maybe asked them?
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker: Like, surely they must have known, like, people can see the chemistry on screen.
Speaker: I bet you before they went on, they were like, ooh, probably go sit next to her on the piano.
Speaker: Probably look as though you're about to.
Speaker: That is completely calculated.
Speaker: But I also think it is quite funny.
Speaker: I think their relationships probably were not in a good place.
Speaker: And I think that did that exacerbate the end of their relationships?
Speaker: Perhaps because it was such a big thing in the news, wasn't it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But no.
Speaker: Do I think that they had a romantic relationship during a Star's Born?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Do I think they had feelings for each other?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: But do I think they have insane chemistry that they capitalised on?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: But my thought was, because I had this and I was like, yeah, probably a publicity stunt.
Speaker: But then I was like, but the film was already out.
Speaker: Like this was Oscars.
Speaker: The film was already out.
Speaker: It had already grossed like the majority of what it had grossed at the box office.
Speaker: So was there really a need to kind of...
Speaker: But I think even just for general publicity, I mean, even though it had already done really, really well, just even watching that, you're like, oh my God, I want to Google these people.
Speaker: I want to listen to the soundtrack.
Speaker: I want to rewatch the movie.
Speaker: So I guess, like, I don't know.
Speaker: It's complicated.
Speaker: And only Bradley and Lady Gaga are the real answer.
Speaker: I think...
Speaker: Whether or not they had a relationship, I think something definitely happened.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I like reading into these things.
Speaker: But the way she spoke about him in every single... That is true.
Speaker: Did you see the memes where she's like, there could be a hundred people in the room.
Speaker: And like there was, because she said it at literally every interview, but she's like, there could be a hundred people in the room and you just need one to believe in you.
Speaker: And he's that guy.
Speaker: and like she just literally every single interview but you're just like are you in love with this man like that because the way she and she speaks so highly of him and then you have the added thing of oh yeah um like lady gaga was really really into the role of ali like she lived her life as ali and she really mourned like the loss of jackson and i'm like
Speaker: I actually saw a very similar thing the other day.
Speaker: It just came up on my Twitter timeline.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys are fans of New Girl.
Speaker: But it was the, I think it w as a clip from a couple of years ago, maybe when the last season was out.
Speaker: And it's like a panel and it's the creators and the stars of New Girl.
Speaker: And they're talking about Nick and Jess.
Speaker: And they say, I think it's one of the producers maybe or one of the racers, I think it's one of the racers, he's like, yeah, the chemistry between Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson was so palpable that they had to kind of forcibly keep them apart on set and purposefully write the
Speaker: their story their love story to be a lot slower because they or like write them in in scenes that maybe it wasn't going to show as much because they wanted it to be such a slow burn and I saw a really really funny um it was like basically it was like Jake Johnson's wife watching this just being like oh great my husband excellent news wow but yeah it kind of reminds me of that yeah
Speaker: It also reminds me of my favourite, I think it's Oscars, maybe it's BAFTA, I think it's Oscars moment, where Kate wins it.
Speaker: I think she wins for the award.
Speaker: I was just about to say, I was just about to say, I love that moment.
Speaker: Which was, oh, to my husband, thank you for all your support, and to Leo, talking about the United Cat rule.
Speaker: I have loved you since I was a young girl.
Speaker: And she's like, it's so awkward because it's like, that's fine to do that, but maybe big up your husband a little bit more.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I just think when you're working, I am such, I live and breathe for when like,
Speaker: actors who are working on something together start our relationship i love it i live and breathe i live and breathe for the drama of like just you know i mean it happens so often especially with like directors and actresses or like you know like leading actors and actresses that are that are working together as a relationship like i don't know i've got i had so many examples put up in my head but now i've like can't think of one like
Speaker: Lea Michele and Cory Monteith, for example, they became an item during Glee.
Speaker: And I think when you're working in such close proximity with somebody for so long, and you're kind of forcibly acting as lovers.
Speaker: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, just saying, they were an item.
Speaker: Major item.
Speaker: Slightly more obscure one, but Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny from the X-Files.
Speaker: Oh yes!
Speaker: They have a super hot one because they hated each other throughout the first couple seasons of the X-Files.
Speaker: They had to be kept away from each other on set.
Speaker: They hated each other.
Speaker: They began to scream in matches.
Speaker: and then something kind of turned in their relationship.
Speaker: I think it was just after Gillian's divorce and they were like suddenly, when I say all over each other, I just mean they were very, very close.
Speaker: And like there's, she's at like an award ceremony and he's like holding her hand and like, but that one really excites me because they hated each other so much, but it's clearly because there was so much sexual tension.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it, I just get so excited.
Speaker: I'm like, oh my God.
Speaker: But yeah, so I think,
Speaker: And I think especially with this being her first sort of major film role, I think she was probably putting her heart and soul into it and really doing everything by the book and really trying, like, trying really hard to make it great.
Speaker: And it being his directorial debut, he was, again, trying to make everything perfect, wanted it to be really great, wanted it to be every...
Speaker: So I think they both went in with so much passion and so much energy and so much like, oh, I love this and I want this to be great.
Speaker: They probably made it the whole kind of world whilst it was happening that I feel like it would have been very easy to get swept up into all that passion and start a little love affair.
Speaker: I love her.
Speaker: I think like it's hard to not watch because I don't think I'm a particularly romantic person or like someone I don't really watch romance things like Bridgerton kind of gives me the it because I just like people don't talk like that and I like think if someone was like to me like you are the fire of my loins I'd just be like oh calm down you discover me
Speaker: Obviously I do like, I love being in love, but I don't know, I'm not like a big romance person.
Speaker: But it's, I mean, even for me, like when you watch them on screen and like, it's so well written as well.
Speaker: Like there is just something so like devastating and exciting about their romance.
Speaker: And that's why just to bring it back to that scene where he's like, well, maybe you are just ugly.
Speaker: That was improvised.
Speaker: That was apparently, apparently they kind of,
Speaker: That bath scene where they're arguing, it was kind of a... They had a general outline, but they kind of just let them go at it.
Speaker: And I think that scene... That really springs to mind when I'm thinking about just, like, really great acting.
Speaker: And then I think I maybe Googled it or seen something about it because I was just like, that was such a great scene.
Speaker: And for somebody... Like, I don't... You know, for someone who is not such a seasoned actress, I mean, she's brilliant, but I think it was so...
Speaker: I don't know, it was really captivating and I just thought it was great.
Speaker: And I was like, I wonder how that went down.
Speaker: And apparently it was kind of improvised.
Speaker: And the bit where he says, I can't remember the exact things he says, but when he says something like, oh, my own girlfriend, da-da-da-da-da.
Speaker: he didn't mean to say that like that was just him no she says oh my boyfriend and he's like who's your boyfriend oh yeah oh that was it that was it so she they were improvising and she said my boyfriend da da da and he kind of rolled with it and was like your boyfriend what am i your boyfriend i'm not your boyfriend and she's like yeah you're my boyfriend if you don't treat me like your wife like that was just like that was off the bat and they just kind of and then he i think that's when he goes well you're just fucking ugly
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: That is devastating because that is the disease talking.
Speaker: That is the addiction disease talking.
Speaker: Well, talking of those kind of great moments, what are some of your kind of best quotes from the film?
Speaker: Does anyone have one?
Speaker: I personally, one of my favorite ones.
Speaker: And it's, you know, this one's a bit cliche and it's, but I like it.
Speaker: It's one of those cliches that's quite nice.
Speaker: And it is quite resonant of the fact that this is the fourth in a kind of iteration.
Speaker: And it is Bobby.
Speaker: Bobby.
Speaker: his brother and manager who says to Ali music is essentially 12 notes between any octave 12 notes in the octave repeats just the same story told over and over all any artist can offer the world is how they see those 12 notes which obviously ties in wonderfully with the kind of themes um of the franchise itself it's obviously saying we're telling the same story kind of
Speaker: but throughout history and it's going to be different each time.
Speaker: And it's also a really nice tie-in to this kind of seed that they plant throughout the film where Jackson says loads of people are talented but not all of them have something to say and that's what he sees in Ali.
Speaker: It's not just that she's a gorgeous singer and she's really beautiful and you know she's very talented.
Speaker: it's that her lyrics have something to say and that's why he's kind of so upset when her pop career is taken away from these lyrics.
Speaker: So I quite like that because it's like a nice nod to the franchise and it's like a nice nod to Jackson's philosophy of fame and kind of sharing your art with the world.
Speaker: But what about you guys?
Speaker: What are some of your favourite quotes from the film?
Speaker: Mine is sort of cliche, but I love the... I just wanted to take another look at you.
Speaker: I think that just...
Speaker: I just think it's so sexy.
Speaker: And I think, and I love, I love the moment that she does with the nose where she kind of like runs along the nose.
Speaker: Oh, I know.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: It's so, for us big nose girlies.
Speaker: It's a real moment.
Speaker: I just think it's so, oh, I just love it.
Speaker: And like the way she kind of like embraces herself after it, like, cause obviously it's something that she's insecure about.
Speaker: And then she kind of like,
Speaker: I don't know, like lifts her chin up and kind of traces her face.
Speaker: And I'm like, oh!
Speaker: And it is so heart-wrenching at the end where obviously he's kind of decided what he's going to do.
Speaker: And he says, oh, I'll come and meet you at the show.
Speaker: And she's going off and then he says, hey, and then she turns around and he says, I just want to take another look at you.
Speaker: But obviously we know it's
Speaker: I'm honestly tearing up, guys, because it kills me.
Speaker: But it's obviously because we know it's going to be his last time and he's just taking her in and it's just... Oh my God, I'm genuinely having a little bit of a moment.
Speaker: It's just so sad.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Goddammit, Bradley Cooper.
Speaker: I really like one of her quotes that she says, where she says, I hope it's okay if I love you forever, Jack.
Speaker: It's just painfully cute.
Speaker: Like, the whole...
Speaker: relationship what are your skippable songs from the soundtrack um i would say i'm gonna go with an easy one i think just obviously any of her kind of pop numbers um that are obviously designed to feel a bit empty for me like i'll just skip those i'm wanting the i'm wanting the drama i'm wanting the shallow do you know i love her version of levion rose
Speaker: Oh my god, I've listened to that all the time.
Speaker: I skip, I was just looking at, I skip Black Eyes.
Speaker: I'm not.
Speaker: I'm not.
Speaker: An instant skip for me.
Speaker: I've got to be honest.
Speaker: I really, really struggle with this.
Speaker: Like, when I had to think of a skip, with that album, I find it really hard to skip things.
Speaker: I guess, like, if I had to be super picky, every now and then I'd probably skip, like, the dialogue, because I'm like,
Speaker: You know, they put like that funny dialogue bit in between.
Speaker: Some of the dialogue bits are really lovely, but some of it I'm like, I don't need to hear this, do I?
Speaker: It's another 40 seconds I can probably skip.
Speaker: See, I'd probably put that in my life.
Speaker: And to be fair, I...
Speaker: I'm so trashy.
Speaker: I love her pop songs because they're just silly.
Speaker: And it's not because I'm like, oh my God, they're really meaningful.
Speaker: It's just that like, I'm just like, they're just silly.
Speaker: And I, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: I shouldn't even say that because it goes against obviously like what the story is about.
Speaker: But I think because I like silly pop songs.
Speaker: So exciting times, guys.
Speaker: I know that we normally do our fantasy generator casting when we're covering a musical, but what we thought in the spirit of A Star Is Born would be really fun is to cast a future version of the show, the two kind of leading parts.
Speaker: So it's who we think in 2035 might be the kind of the titular ingenue star with a quirk and the aging kind of bad boy
Speaker: star I think to start the gate Olivia Rodrigo I think that she's like a really up and coming artist at the minute obviously she's quite young so I feel like if we did like a 2035 version or something she'd be kind of like the right age so I have a few thoughts on the leading entrepreneur I don't know if you guys know Mia Goth yes
Speaker: She's in Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac and then she's obviously been in Pearl.
Speaker: She has, I mean, I think she's a phenomenal actress, but I also think she has like this,
Speaker: something so exciting about her like she reminds me of like Shelley Duvall or something or like Tilda Swinton like this kind of offbeatness but this like great beauty as well I don't know whether she can sing or not obviously in Pearl the whole point is that she couldn't but I don't know whether she could actually sing but she it would be like a type like her for me I think she just has something so interesting about her but then I was thinking as well I can't remember her last name but
Speaker: from normal people is it Daisy Daisy Edgar Jones Daisy Edgar Jones I think she has also a bit of a je ne sais quoi about her I can't quite put my finger on but she's quite an exciting performer as well
Speaker: Ariana Grande would be phenomenal because of her vocal range, but she is so, like, beautiful.
Speaker: And it sounds really silly because, like, Lady Gaga, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, they're all stunning.
Speaker: But I feel like if you look to her, you're like, no, she is so typically beautiful in, like...
Speaker: her features and like her long hair and like whatever yeah and I feel like visually I don't think she'd be the right person for the role because she is just so stunning um that you're right like it needs to be someone who is who is you know beautiful but has something about them that's like a bit different I'm trying to think off the top of my head it's so hard I think for Jackson you want him to be like gritty you want him to have like a
Speaker: oh, do I say Leonardo DiCaprio, like, now, though?
Speaker: Because you know how he's, like, well, he's, like, ruggedy, like, he could look quite ruggedy now.
Speaker: I think if we're basing it in, like, 10, 15 years, I think Harry Styles.
Speaker: Ooh.
Speaker: Because I think he, I mean, obviously he's quite...
Speaker: like clean cut well not really quite clean cut but he's not like you know i mean he's not like gritty like rock star sort of thing but i don't know like in 10-15 years i think you could make him look like that you know i mean i don't think that'd be that'd be hard to make him like a like a rugged rock star yeah i think the reason why it's so hard is because they are so well cast that like to think of other people you're like i just can't i can't picture it not being them
Speaker: Well, a lot was just unpicked.
Speaker: Now, some of you at home may be thinking, I cannot wait to see that 2035 version.
Speaker: And you're right, I'm excited too.
Speaker: A lot has been talked about.
Speaker: And actually, you know what, after tonight, I am gonna be watching A Star Is Born over and over and over again, rethinking everything that we just talked about, especially my sha-ha-hello.
Speaker: And just to remind you again that we are currently on a drive to boost the audience for our show, and we really need your help.
Speaker: All you have to do is, after you've enjoyed an episode of Sunday on the Pod, is rate and review us wherever you listen, share us on social media, or recommend us by word of mouth to your friends and family.
Speaker: These little things go a long way to increasing our listenership and helping the show continue.
Speaker: And just a reminder as well that we are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can find us at Sunday on the Pod on Insta and Twitter, and on our Facebook page, Sunday on the Pod.
Speaker: These are all linked below.
Speaker: And just like that, we've been a Star Is Born.
Speaker: Bye!
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