Lady Gaga Will Not Star as ‘Lady Gaga’ in ‘A Star Is Born’
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper have been hard at work on their remake of A Star is Born since their casual appearance at Coachella where Gaga told fans to leave their anachronistic pink Joanne cowboy hats at home. Except Lady Gaga will not be starring in A Star is Born. Stefani Germanotta will be.
Lady Gaga has been known as Lady Gaga for so long that pretty much all of us have forgotten that that’s not actually her given name. She was born Stefani Germanotta (later adopting her stage moniker Lady Gaga from the Queen song “Radio Ga Ga”) and will be using her birth name for her first starring role in this movie, according to People, which also debuted a couple of first look images:
Germanotta and Cooper also filmed all the singing live for a more authentic performance, a proposition that Cooper, who also directed the movie, claims didn’t make him nervous. “I never had to deal with the reality of asking myself, ‘Are you nuts, putting yourself on stage with Lady Gaga?’” Sure, Brad. That’s definitely what you thought.
It’s hard not to read too much into Gaga/Germanotta’s choice of using her real name for the movie, but it probably just comes down to separating her stage presence — a kind of character herself, perpetually bewigged — from her real self. Lady Gaga is a singer. Stefani Germanotta is an actress, thank you very much.
A Star is Born hits theaters May 18, 2018.