Her career now stands as a tribute of sorts to the man she loved.īut it’s where these versions diverge that gives them their own personality and distinction. He commits suicide, and she mourns his death. She vows to stay with him and help him through his addiction, but just as it looks like he might recover, he stumbles again and realizes he’ll never be more than a washed-up drag on her career. At the award ceremony, he drunkenly humiliates her as she wins an award, thus merging her triumph and tragedy. His addiction gets worse while she becomes a total star and wins an award. They eventually get married even though he continues to decline. The two strike up a relationship where his connections in the industry help provide her with a path to stardom. The male lead then always discovers the female lead, who has the talent, but hasn’t broken through to stardom. The story always begins with the male lead as a star on the decline due to alcoholism. Finally, with today’s version, you’ve got Cooper directing and starring opposite Lady Gaga.Īlthough the story spans different eras and even different industries, the overall plot remains remarkably similar throughout all four versions.
Give it another twenty years or so, and you’ve got another adaptation, this time in 1976 with Frank Pierson directing and Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in the lead roles. The first remake came along in 1954, directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason. Wellman’s 1937 movie, which starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. The story originally came to the big screen in William A. Cooper’s film is the fourth version of A Star Is Born.
Wracked with guilt, Jackson relapses and ends his life - and Ally comes into her own as a superstar.Bradley Cooper’s new adaptation of A Star Is Born is now in theaters, and while it feels fresh and new, the film also hews to the same plot beats of previous movies. They iron out their issues, but after Jackson completes treatment, Rez tells him he's a hindrance to his wife's stardom. Jackson resents her for that, his demons intensify, he humiliates her at the Grammys, and then finally goes to rehab. As Ally's success eclipses his own, the couple suffers a lot of ups and downs leading up to an impromptu wedding.Īs Ally becomes a pop star, her manager, Rez, leads her away from her husband's rock influence. Self-medicating to escape a traumatic childhood and to cope with career-threatening tinnitus leads Jackson to full-blown addiction. It's the beginning of a beautiful but tortured love affair. He flies her out on a private jet to come to one of his shows, where he convinces her to take the stage and sing " Shallow" with him.
The movie stars Lady Gaga as Ally, a drag bar waitress with music dreams and Bradley Cooper as Jackson Maine, a rock star who discovers Ally performing " La Vie En Rose." Enchanted by her voice, they bond for hours over their insecurities before he drops her off at home and infamously tells her, "I just want to take another look at you."Īfterward, Jackson essentially stalks Ally into submission. Stop reading right now if you haven't seen A Star Is Born because there are major spoilers coming.