The Melodic First Trailer for Bradley Cooper’s Directorial Debut A Star is Born

If you are going to direct your first movie about music, you might as well cast Lady Gaga in the lead. Bradley Cooper shows us all how it is done in the first trailer for A Star is Born. Cooper stars opposite Lady Gaga as a famous musician helping spark her budding career. Gaga’s character is struggling to break into the scene, but you can’t hide those pipes for long.

Cooper shows off a lot of new talents in the largely impressive trailer. Turns out he can sing, he can direct, and he has a slick southern accent. Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a successful country singer, who falls in love with a struggling songwriter. Ally (Lady Gaga) is confident in her talent, but doubts her abilities as a performer. It looks like the familiar country music pitfalls lie in their path: fame and whiskey. We don’t hold out much hope for a happy ending, but we are looking forward to seeing the love birds give it a try.

Lady Gaga completely commanded the screen in American Horror Story. Much like the pop star’s performance persona, her character in both seasons was heavy on costume and makeup. In A Star is Born, however, she is stripped down, fresh faced, and looks amazing. And that voice is totally unreal. When she lets it all go, we get absolute chills. We can hear just two bars of Cooper and Lady Gaga singing together, and it is a magical matchup. We’ll be waiting on the duet album.

A Star is Born is the ill-fated romance that never grows old. Janet Gaynor and Frederic March sparked the story in 1937 as a Hollywood star supporting an aspiring actress. Judy Garland and James Mason adopted the tale in 1954 as an actor and a young singer. Ironically, when Kris Kristofferson played the role, he was an aging rock star rather than country singer to Barbra Streisand’s young songstress. All of the stories share the common thread of a man, established in his career, falls in love with young talent while battling with alcoholism.

Here’s the official synopsis for the 2018 A Star is Born:

In this new take on the tragic love story, he plays seasoned musician Jackson Maine, who discovers—and falls in love with—struggling artist Ally (Gaga). She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer… until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally’s career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.

The cast of “A Star is Born” also includes Andrew Dice Clay, with Dave Chappelle and Sam Elliott.

In addition to playing Ally, Gaga, who earned her Oscar nod for the song “Til It Happens to You” from “The Hunting Ground,” performs original songs in the film, which she wrote with Cooper and a handful of artists, including Lukas Nelson, Jason Isbell and Mark Ronson. All the music is original and was recorded live.

A Star is Born opens in theaters October 5.

Featured Image: (L-R) BRADLEY COOPER as Jackson Maine and LADY GAGA as Ally in the drama “A STAR IS BORN,” from Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Live Nation Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Neal Preston