A Star Is Born: Barbra Streisand slams Bradley Cooper’s remake

Barbra Streisand wants to make it very clear that she was no fan of Bradley Cooper’s 2018 remake of A Star Is Born. The singer/actress, who starred in the 1976 version of the film, believes that Cooper’s take on the story was the “wrong” one.

Streisand was a guest of the Australian talk show The Sunday Project and that’s when the icon shared her thoughts about the film. Streisand said, “I thought it was the wrong idea. Look, it was a big success. I can’t argue with success. But I don’t care about so much about success as I do originality.”

The originality comment is interesting considering Streisand’s 1976 version film was the third iteration of the story. A Star Is Born originated as a 1937 film from David O. Selznick and starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. In 1954, Moss Hart adapted the film with Judy Garland and James Mason taking on the lead roles. Streisand co-starred with Kris Kristofferson in the 1976 take of the story which changed things up a bit focusing on a has-been rock star that falls in love with a young, up-and-coming songstress. Cooper’s 2018 film essentially follows this version of the story with Lady Gaga and Cooper leading the way.

Streisand went on to explain on the talk show that when she first heard about the new remake that “it was supposed to be Will Smith and Beyonce” who would star in the film. Beyonce was indeed attached to the project back in 2011 when Clint Eastwood was eyeing the project to potentially direct.

“I thought…that’s interesting. You know, really make it different again—a different kind of music, integrated actors. I thought that was a great idea. So, I was surprised when I saw how alike it was to the version that I did in 1976.”

Streisand explained that the 1976 version she starred in was successful because they found a new approach to the classical material that came before it. Streisand said, “When I did A Star Is Born…Judy Garland was so great in it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to do this?” ‘I have to change it. I’ll become a guitar-playing singer-songwriter, and Kris Kristofferson is already a singer-songwriter, and we’ll change the story a bit.”

Despite Streisand’s opinion of the 2018 film, it proved to be more successful critically and with moviegoers following its release. Streisand’s film holds a very rotten score of 36% while Cooper’s film is 90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The 1976 film was financially successful, grossing $80 million and going on to become the second highest-grossing film of 1976 but Cooper’s version excelled greatly there too, grossing $215.3 million domestically and $436.2 million worldwide. Lastly, Streisand’s film scored four Oscar nominations, compared to eight for Cooper’s take but they both took home the Oscar for Best Original Song.

What are YOUR thoughts on Barbra Streisand’s comments about A Star Is Born?