Jeremy here...
Once upon a time, Bradley Cooper was set to star alongside Beyonce in Clint Eastwood's proposed remake of A STAR IS BORN. That, of course, never happened, but Cooper evidently couldn't let the project go, as he is now set to both star in and direct the film for Warner Bros.
The question now is whether Beyonce can be lured back to the project. The current plan is for Cooper to rewrite the script with Will Fetters (THE BEST OF ME) once he's done with the London stage run of THE ELEPHANT MAN, which concludes on August 8th. This means the project is probably still a year away from going into production, and, therefore, two years from release - though if Cooper inherits Clint's shoot-the-rehearsal technique, perhaps he could deliver the film in time for the 2016 awards season.
William Wellman and Robert Carson hatched the story about an up-and-coming starlet mentored by an aging star in 1937. Wellman directed the technicolor film (starring Frederic March, Janet Gaynor and Adolphe Menjou) from a screenplay that included contributions from Dorothy Parker, and it was nominated for seven Academy Awards (in fact, it was the first color movie to receive a Best Picture nod). George Cukor remade the film in 1954 as a comeback vehicle for Judy Garland, and, though compromised by the studio, it remains the finest version of the story. Garland and James Mason are absolutely sensational in the film, while Cukor's use of CinemaScope is miraculous; if you've never seen A STAR IS BORN '54, you're missing out on one of the most beautifully composed films ever made. A second remake arrived in 1976 starring Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, and it's probably most memorable for Paul Williams's Oscar-winning song "Evergreen" (peformed by Streisand).
A STAR IS BORN is a durable story ripe for reinterpretation. I have no idea what kind of filmmaker Cooper will turn out to be, so for now I can only hope for the best.
