A Star Is Born director and actor Bradley Cooper has officially retired the husky voice of one Jackson Maine, he revealed during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
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As a result, Cooper – alongside Lady Gaga – will take to the Academy Awards stage later this month as himself instead of his character to perform the film’s breakout song ‘Shallow’.
“He’s gone, I’m not going to try and get him back. But I will be me singing,” Cooper told Colbert. “But hopefully – my hope is that – I fly back to LA and we start rehearsing – I hope to be present and enjoy it and hopefully people love the song sung that night.”
Brilliantly, Cooper slipped into character for a moment to demonstrate how low his voice had to go to play Jackson. He added he’d often suffer from sore throats during filming as a result.
The Star actors recently performed ‘Shallow’ for the first time live during Gaga’s ‘Enigma’ show last month. The artist brought on Cooper as a surprise towards the end of the show, sending fans into absolute chaos. And despite Cooper describing himself as someone who looked like an “idiot from Philadelphia who’s like singing with Lady Gaga”, he was still a bloody joy to watch.
“I watched the video back and we sang it live – I went up there and sang it – and I just look like this sort of idiot from Philadelphia who’s like singing with Lady Gaga. Luckily I was on pitch, thank God, but I was like ‘oh, Jackson’s gone’.”
You can catch the interview below.
A Star is Born has been nominated for a whopping eight Oscars. That’s Best Picture, Best Lead Actor, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Original Song.
The Critics Choice Awards has already crowned Gaga a dual winner for best actress and the Golden Globes awarded ‘Shallow’ best song.
The tune’s fellow Oscar nominees including ‘I’ll Fight’ from RBG – a documentary about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and ‘The Place Where Lost Things Go’ from Disney‘s Mary Poppins Returns will also be performed by Jennifer Hudson and a “surprise special guest” respectively.
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will also sing the nominated song ‘When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings’ from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’.
Still no word yet on whether or not Kendrick Lamar and SZA will perform ‘All the Stars’ from Black Panther.
The 91st Academy Awards will take place Sunday February 24… so Monday for us.
To get you in the mood…
