A Star Is Born actor and director Bradley Cooper has spilled some cheeky tea about who he almost chose to play the lead character Ally before Lady Gaga nabbed the role. And let’s just say, “Shallow” would’ve sounded extremely different, but in a good way.
While attending the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival to accept the award for Oustanding Performer of the Year for Maestro, Cooper revealed that he almost picked Adele — yes, “Rolling In The Deep” Adele — for the lead role in the 2018 romance musical, A Star Is Born.
“I thought about Adele for a while,” the actor said in a conversation during the festival.
For folks who’ve never seen the 2018 version of A Star Is Born, the plot basically follows Jackson (played by Cooper) who discovers and falls in love with Ally (played by Gaga) and the obstacles they face in their relationship, within themselves and their journey to stardom.
Cooper — who made his directorial debut with the flick — revealed how his character would’ve come across Adele in his retelling of A Star Is Born, however, it ultimately fell through.
“It was like, his career’s not great. He goes abroad. He meets this woman, but no — And then that never even took off at all,” he said.
Prior to the 2018 remake, Clint Eastwood and Beyoncé were reportedly taking on the lead roles for A Star Is Born, but unfortunately, that reimagination of the story was canned before Cooper took over both directing and acting duties for the movie.
Although Eastwood had stepped down from directing A Star Is Born, Cooper said he still pitched the movie to the Renaissance singer.
“She [Beyoncé] was incredible. And we went down the road and then it didn’t work out,” he recalled.
“I remember I was so nervous. I had this weird cough as I was pitching it to her.”
In the end, Lady Gaga ultimately took the role of Ally and honestly, I can’t imagine anyone else as that character. According to IndieWire, Cooper’s decision to cast the “Bad Romance” singer was made after he watched her cover of “La Vie En Rose” at a cancer benefit.
“It crystallised in that moment and I thought, ‘How did I ever think anybody else?’” shared Cooper.
“I was so lucky. I went to meet her the next day or the day after in Malibu, at her house, and she came down the stairs — I’ll never forget it— right away I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to work.’”
As much as I froth both Adele and Beyoncé’s music, Lady Gaga was the perfect choice for A Star Is Born. I mean, her and Cooper’s on and off-screen chemistry was so FKN saucy. We were all convinced that the pair had a secret relationship for the longest time.
That being said, I would love to hear Adele and Beyoncé’s version of “Shallow” for my birthday, thank you xxxx.
