WEBVTT - Bradley Cooper / "A Star Is Born" 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.200 This episode of Playback is brought to you by Warner 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:05.800 Brothers Pictures. Crazy Rich Asians, the critically acclaimed surprise hit 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:07.480 of the summer, is now one of the most buzzed 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.760 about films this award season. Critics everywhere agree Crazy Rich 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.600 Asans is a phenomenon that has inspired and moved audiences 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.040 and critics alike. Director John Chew redefined the romantic comedy 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:21.240 genre with his thoroughly unexpected and genuinely relatable, groundbreaking film 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.320 Entertainment Weekly calls Crazy Rich Agans hilarious, heartfelt, and historical. 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.159 Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says Crazy Rich Asians is 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.760 making history, and Jake Coyle of The Associated Press says, Hollywood, 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.360 this is what you've been missing. Crazy Rich Asians for 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.040 your consideration in all categories, including Best Picture. Now available 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:55.920 on DVD and Blu ray. You're listening to Playback, a 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.280 Variety I Heart Radio podcast. I'm your host Variety Awards 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.080 Editor Chris Tae. This week we're catching up with Bradley Cooper, 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.400 the writer, director, star producer. You name It of a 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.760 Star is Born, one of the most popular films of 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.120 the year, closing in on two million dollars here in 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:13.839 the States. We dive into the craft of the film 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.720 and his inspirations and making it, as well as conjuring 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.160 the songs, working on that Sam Elliott voice, and a 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:41.320 whole lot more so, Sit tight, this is playback, fresh 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:48.160 air and now playback. How long was that power and 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.440 forty minutes? Oh man, hope you're not tapped up. Well, 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.600 you'll be the judge of that. Let's see. He's like 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.080 some sort of weird like card game or something. We 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.320 were like playing some sort of like test with all 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.320 the cars. This is just an interesting is where you 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.320 always do it. That's where we always do it. How 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.440 many years? Uh, just past two? How many of you done? 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:14.080 About ninety six? We should be had a hundred before 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:19.600 the end of the year. Top three. Man, Christian was good. 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.040 Christian Bale, Yeah, I did him for Hostiles last year. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:27.079 Oh man, I loved him in that movie. Yeah, it's 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.200 so good. Well, Scretta and Sarcial last year work. Oh yeah, 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:32.920 I love that movie. I voted for that movie. Yeah, 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.920 I thought that was great. I love that movie. Really. 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.760 I think that's like a perfect film, isn't it It is? 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.120 It is a perfect movie. Every frame of that film, 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:48.079 every character every word. It's such a beautiful construction. Totally. 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.880 She crushed that. I heard the screenplay was incredible. She's 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:58.000 such a natural. Just let's get this directional, Mike, So 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.240 you're gonna be perfect like that, and we're already up 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:05.280 and running. Let's dive in. Alright, everyone, I'm here with 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:11.400 Bradley Cooper, the writer, let's say hang on, writer, director, producer, starter, 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:17.760 co writer, uh, songwriter, multi hyphenate of a Star is Born. 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:19.680 One of the best movies of the year. Thank you 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:23.160 for coming on the show. Appreciate I loved the movie. 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.399 I'm I'm a huge fan, and I have to tell 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.080 you I went in very skeptical because I haven't really 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:33.040 taken to the story over the ages, and I actually 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:35.080 thought you fixed a number of the things and I'll 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.240 get to it that have have bothered me along the way. Um, 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.480 but yeah, I went in with like a show me 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.040 attitude and I thought you nailed this. So first off 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.320 the top of us once say congratulation, thank you, thank 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:46.840 you for saying that, and people seem to dig it. 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.760 I mean, you're cruising toward two hundred million here uh 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.680 in the States and like three fifty plus worldwide. I mean, 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.600 it's this big phenomenon. I mean, first of all, knowing 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:58.680 that it's having this impact, how does that make you 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.160 feel as a first time director and you didn't know how? 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:07.880 Absolute relief, total relief. It's the you know, it's funny. 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:09.440 I can take my check up because it sounds like 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:13.040 I'm in a I'm like on a parachute. That reminds 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.600 me I'm a quick anecdote. My sound editor in film 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:17.880 school told me the story of Rugger Howard coming into 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.919 do looping with all leather. Wow, so it just ruined 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.599 it all anyway, I always think about that would be 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.240 like the Elvis sixty eight suit exactly. That's how I 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.040 want to picture Rugger Howard though, right, that's kind of yeah. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.680 I want to picture that father comes in and takes 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.279 a motorcycli home and off ready to do some looping. 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.320 But you were really bad? Is that his character's name? 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.640 And Blade Runner? Yeah? He what one of my favorite 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:47.640 characters in all films. Fantastic. Oh my gosh, isn't he incredible? 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:49.880 Of that movie? It makes you feel a lot and 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:54.359 I want more life so good. I just got the 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.200 four K of that. I just got four K TV, 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.680 so that was the one I wanted to test it out. All. Yeah, 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:00.839 there's a version. There's a an example of a movie 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.760 where the director's cut is the only version of the 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.000 movie I ever watched. I don't even watch The Fall 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.159 with a voice over anymore. You don't know, because it's cheesy. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.200 I mean, that's the first that was my introduction to 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:11.400 it was the first time I saw it, and I 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.440 loved it back then. Um, but once I saw the 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.960 director's cut, that's just the movie. I've erased the other 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.080 one from my brain. It's really interesting and the unicorn 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.520 thing is beautiful. Oh it's beautiful, and just ending on 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.839 the on the elevator. Yeah, you know, absolutely no car ride. 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:29.760 You know, footage from the shining isn't that what he 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.919 used or something? Some crazy But you're relieved, so you 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:38.600 know when you I guess Venice was the first big reveal. 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:40.960 So it was that that was it when you were 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.080 sitting down, I mean, just what what did that feel 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.040 like knowing that you were about to I was terrified 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.479 that day. I remember thinking I couldn't believe how how 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.720 nervous I was. But I was like, wow, my stomach 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.279 started turning and I thought, oh, my gosh, I was terrified. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.000 I was finally for for a couple of reasons. One 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.000 I thought, oh my, you know, just the normal thing 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.680 of am I gonna get laugh doubt? Are people going 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:02.839 to walk out? Like what's the worst case scenario? Like 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.559 people literally just stopped leaving the theater during the movie. 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.680 And the other one was, gosh, please don't lose this 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:14.760 feeling of this overwhelming feeling of fulfillment that I have 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.279 of this project because it was the exact movie I 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:21.440 wanted to make, and that's why I'm here as a 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.680 as a person. I'm so lucky that I know what 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:30.039 I want to do with my time. And and please 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.800 don't let people saying that it's not good affect your 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.280 your deep sense of this is what you're supposed to 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.280 be doing and to keep doing it. And I remember 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:40.480 being very conscious of that, like, no matter what happens 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.000 inside that theaters were in the surreal boat with it 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:45.120 pouring rain, which I was so happy it was raining. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.599 Um uh, just don't let whatever happens affect what you 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.200 know to be true basically about what your road is 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.080 right now. And there was like a technical glitch too. 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.440 For twenty minutes I went out, which is really fascinating 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.839 and the truth once once the movie started again, during 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.720 the twenty minutes, it was fine. I thought it was 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.840 actually some cool, like you know, human experiment where you're 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.599 what all these people are? You realize like, oh, there's 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:10.600 all these people in this room and we're just waiting. 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.480 And then so I actually I thought it was kind 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.440 of interesting, you know, life on life's terms. I found 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.920 it interesting and and but then when the movie started, 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.960 I have to say it was excruciating to sit through 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:25.880 because it's not the same movie that I made that 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.360 they saw, because the rhythm is completely different. You know, 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.000 it's almost if you're playing this. So I play a 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.120 song for you, and I stopped after the first verse 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:34.840 for twenty minutes, and then I played the rest of 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:36.840 the song. The rhythm of the song has changed, so 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.360 the rhythms that we spent months and months creating this 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.720 one musical element of the movie, which is one musical element, 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:47.040 was altered that day. So that that was that was 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:48.800 hard to sit through. I really had a hard time 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.120 sitting through it. Interesting, Well, what kind of products were 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.720 you looking for to make the jump into directing, like 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.680 and why was this the one I mean, this was 0:07:57.720 --> 0:07:59.920 a project that they've been trying to make again for 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:01.760 a long time. You came in and put your spin 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:03.680 on it. But what made this one the one? And 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.040 what were you looking for? I wasn't looking for other 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.360 projects and then found this one. It was I wanted 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:14.120 to make a movie or I wanted to explore cinematically 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:16.800 certain themes that I knew that I could talk about 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:18.720 and from a real place, because there's no reason for 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:20.800 me to make a movie or try to to to 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.040 ask you for two hours of your time and show 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.360 you something visually sonically if I don't have a reason 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:28.760 to do it. Um so I wanted to do I 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:30.600 wanted to really tell a love story. I wanted to 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:32.679 tell a love story between two people who actually love 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:34.640 each other and there's no one fidelity and still how 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:36.640 hard it is. I wanted to tell a story about 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:39.920 what it's like growing up and dealing with your childhood 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.240 and things that occur, and then how does that influence 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.520 who you become as an adult. I wanted to examine 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:49.319 things about finding your voice in this life, and As 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:54.680 Star Is Born was the perfect sandbox paradigm PlayStation to 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.960 to examine all those things because that the thing that 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.120 would prevent me from being authentic it is that these 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.720 two characters sing, and you can't take it. When you sing, 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.800 it's impossible, Um, because your voice is the first thing 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.439 that goes if you're not connected to your yourself, because 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.080 your breathing changes. You start talking from here and everything's gone. 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.959 So I love the idea that these two characters are 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.079 expressing them themselves. They're singing, and it's so it's I'm 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:21.760 gonna know, I'm gonna have a b line right to 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:25.720 their soul. And it's also lends itself to being cinematic, 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.600 so as opposed to them being two people and other 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.360 professions or in another world but the same story. How 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.920 do I make it cinematic? Well, they're both musicians and 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:38.320 so we could play with that cinematically. Yeah. How about 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.440 this influence wise, I'm curious if you know you've had 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.280 a long tenure as an actor, are you more influenced 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.840 by the collaborations you've had with directors as an actor 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.160 or are you more influenced by the films you watch 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.120 growing up in the aesthetics that appealed to you and 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.080 things like that. I don't think I could quantify either one. 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.360 I mean, it's it's all part of the same, the 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:01.000 same pool of inspiration. Um. There's not one thing that 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.960 trump's the other. Certainly, you know, the majority of my 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.960 life is observing by watching other films. It's only the 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:12.840 last two decades that I've been able to collaborate with filmmakers. Um. 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.520 So it's it's both, you know, it's but I mean 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:20.359 a life lessons the short by Martin Scorsese heavily influenced 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.760 this movie for me, um, even um, even parts of 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.400 Hotel Chevalier, you know that short, which I love that 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.800 west In situally, I love that so much. Um. Not 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:33.800 how he shot it though, because it's very different, but 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.040 but more life lessons, the forty eight frames moments, you know, 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.280 piecing out the tactile occurrences. That was totally influenced by 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.800 Martin Scorsese. And that's short. Um. And then working with 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.520 David or Russell and Todd Phillips and Clintics would definitely 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.920 influenced how I how I talked to actors or you know, 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:56.520 think about the rhythm of a set. Um uh. And 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.360 then just you know, being on sets for so many years, 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:03.240 and and I've always had a curiosity Uh, intense curiosity 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.199 about this process because of a love of film, of 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.120 watching them since I was a kid. So I just, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:09.840 I just I'd love that I can be a part 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.400 of the creation of a world that you can then 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.679 be exposed to for two hours and a story being 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.680 told in that world. That to me is like to 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.160 be able to provide that and create that and explore 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:23.520 that is so fun. It's like endlessly fun to me. Yeah. Well, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.400 beginning with the page here, Eric Roth is actually a buddy, 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.440 But I'm curious, like, did he write something first and 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.440 then you guys came in and and and wrote more? 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.520 Or like, how how did the project exist when you 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.440 came to it, and then how did you feel like 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.480 it needed to shift? The product came Will Fetters had 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.920 written the screenplay that Clint Easwood was going to do, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:42.840 and that was the one that I read years before 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.080 when Clint eas would talk to me about playing the 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.000 male character. Um. And then when I went back and 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.480 had a take on it. Uh, And I asked one 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.400 of brothers if they would allow me to rewrite the 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.760 whole thing page one rewrite. I just want to totally 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.280 go out of a different way. Um. And I said, 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.000 and I'd love to work with Will if he wants 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.040 to do that, and we could do together. So we 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.280 we started doing that together. He came to London, I 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.840 was doing The Elephant Man, and we started writing there 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.120 and then we wrote. We we wrote a couple of 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.400 many drafts and then it got and I like to 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.199 hear them read out loud, not me acting in them. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.199 Just I really feel like that really helps UH and 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:18.800 UM and I just felt like it got to a 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.839 point and I met. I'm trying to think how I met. 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.080 I think Greg Silverman, who was at Warner Brothers time 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.839 it was a huge advocate of Eric Roth, and obviously 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.720 I uh, he's a great writer and has written great 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.480 screenplays and I and I said, can I just talk 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.200 to him about this movie? So I went to UM 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:37.440 and I showed him the screen test I think that 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.640 I had that I wrote and shot and to show 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.959 Warner Brothers to get green lit, but not even get 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.440 a green the idea of her and I together, and 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:49.160 I said, I'd like to I'd like to almost Will 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.640 and I have gone to a point and I can't 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.199 quite I don't feel the movie. I don't see the movie, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:55.880 and I want to explore other things and will you 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.720 do that with me? And he was kind enough to 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.880 do that and we did. I think you have to 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:02.320 ask him if he's your buddy. I think it's the 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:06.040 quickest he's ever worked. Yeah. I had not talked to 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.320 him in a while, and then I realized he was 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.640 a part of the project and I emailed him immediately afterwards. 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.240 I was like, dude, movie rocks. Good job and uh, 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:16.080 and he was he was. I love I love him 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:20.760 to death. That's fantastic, hid uh, As I said, you know, 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.800 I the film hasn't really worked for me in the past, 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.440 the previous versions, and I think a huge part of 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:30.439 it is the central male character. I've never really felt 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.920 empathy for him, and that's what I thought you fixed. Uh, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:35.720 you know, just little things. I mean, you know this 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.800 debilitating your condition. Uh, the real there's a real sense 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.360 of warmth I think you feel in him throughout, whereas 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:46.080 he's always been kind of spiteful, translated into that Award 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.160 show moment that's always been such a bitter, spiteful moment 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.520 for him. Here it's just a tragic moment for him. 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.079 Did you feel that these were elements that needed to 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:58.079 be tweaked it didn't. It didn't. The end result is 0:13:58.120 --> 0:13:59.840 the same, but it didn't come out of wanting to 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.000 something that I didn't like. Again, it's just because I 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.000 had these things I wanted to examine. And the male 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.920 character was somebody who his injury is not narcissistic, you know, 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.760 his injury is more about having not not not having 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.760 had the ability to cultivate other aspects of his life, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.600 and that he's what happens when somebody finds their voice 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:21.920 has something to say. Early on, people are telling them 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.920 that it's it's it's wonderful, and so he's cultivating that 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.480 and then that becomes his life source. And now he's 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.760 forty four years old and he's never dealt with anything, 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.080 and how is he sustained? How does he sustain himself? 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:34.680 I like this idea of a guy who looks so 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:36.800 much like a man. He's everything you'd want to be 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.600 as a man when you're young. But he's a child. 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.120 He's thirteen years old. He's that moment that that happened 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.320 when his father died, his brother came back and he 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.400 had to spend that year with his dad's sick um. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.720 The that was the character I wanted to create. That 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.640 character doesn't care about his fame being dwindling because that's 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.440 not where he's found his his sense of worth. So 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:58.520 then it means nothing to him the idea of somebody 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.520 eclipsing him if he doesn't look at him self as 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.160 as as finding meaning on that level anyway, eclipse the 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:09.880 eclipsing means nothing. So right away those two aspects are gone, um, 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.560 and it's much more about him trying to cultivate, trying 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.840 to find a connection and seeing somebody and being re 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.440 reinvigorated in his life and and and feeling things that 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.600 maybe he hasn't been able to feel, and finding a soulmate, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.440 and and not having the tools to do that, to 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:29.640 to actually to to go on that road, that journey 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.480 with that person because his his journey is coming to 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.920 an end. That that was that character to me. So 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:40.920 you so now implement that character into this structure, and 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.040 it's there's going to be made. So the grammy scene 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.760 becomes what happened, That becomes He's he thinks he thinks 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.760 he's supporting her, you know, that's the whole thing. He's 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.400 not hijacking her speech at all. He's just he's planning 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.480 to stand there next to her and support her and 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:55.960 that and that scene kills me. And even when I 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.520 wrote it, I thought, oh my god, you know, and 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:00.160 even when I said, look, I think he's and to 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.200 have to pee himself, you know, that's like that's laughable. 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.920 It's like, yeah, but that's just it's just I want 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:07.480 him to hit him at his real bottom. And the 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.640 thing that hope feel that is embarrassment for her that 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.040 he somehow tainted her experience. That to me is moving. 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:15.000 If I if we can pull that off me as 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:16.960 a movie go or that's something I'd want to see. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.400 And then ties it up with the rehab scene as well, 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.400 and just the breakdown the crime. Mean, it's yeah, this 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.680 stuff is what for me made it finally sing. And 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.600 uh yeah. I mean, if if you didn't think they 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.960 needed fixing, you know, that's understandable. But I just I 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.640 always felt like that. I don't know, I just always 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:35.480 thought he was an asshole and I just didn't care 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:39.200 about him, And this time I cared deeply for him. Um. 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.960 Also regarding what you were just talking about, the eclipsing 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.040 of it all, I mean I kind of wondered going in, 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:48.640 how is a movie that and three iterations has been 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.840 about a man overshadowed by a woman who kills himself 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:53.280 and then she takes his name. How is that going 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.360 to play? In two thousand eighteen? And I thought you 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.480 navigated that well too. I mean, was that something you 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.080 had your eye on? Um? I I don't. I can't 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:03.880 create art from a place of wondering how it's going 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:05.920 to be received. It has to start from me, from 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:07.879 what story do I want to tell? And how personal 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.040 can I make it? And make it as authentic as possible? 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.160 And then but I find that it stunts any sort 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.240 of creativity if I'm trying to strategize how something's going 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.600 to come across. The thing that I love about storytelling 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.440 is the stories that I love feel very personal. Whether 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.400 or not they are by the filmmaker, I have no idea, 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:27.399 and it doesn't really matter, but they affected me in 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.480 a personal way. So so the only way that I 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.439 could feel worthy enough to tell a story is if 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.679 it feels something personal to me. She's just a character 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.520 that I find very interesting. It's much more interesting for 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.080 me to examine somebody who is thirty one years old 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.600 and it's not a non genue and has found that 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.040 her the things she wants to say, people are telling 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:50.760 her she's not worthy of saying them. And then how people, 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.600 and this is my experience, people can thrust you up 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.199 above whatever, whatever whole you're in and say no, no, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.800 you have worth. And they're not telling you something you 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.920 don't already feel. They're just bolstering something that you feel 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.000 inside of yourself, And that to me is interesting. So 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.159 I never saw it as like he dies she that 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.399 that way you described it is not the story that 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.000 I've tried to make. I mean, whether you feel that way, 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:17.080 that's it's your movie now. But but that was not that. 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.200 That's not the road that I tried to examine between 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:21.879 the two of them. Well, I think he transcended that 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.320 as my point. I mean the previous iterations, that's been 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.080 the vibe. So before seeing your version, I was like, well, 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.359 how's that? How's that going to play? And again I 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:33.280 thought you definitely handled it. So Maddie Libatique, who has 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:35.280 a great cameo by the way, in the movie, along 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.640 with very interesting choice for a DP on a movie 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:43.320 like this, Uh, I thought there was an incredible intimacy 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:45.480 to the photography right out of the gate, like right on, 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.359 you're on that stage with him, The way that the 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.520 camera swirls around and meets him right here at the 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.200 mic and starts on his back really, which is really 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.080 interesting as well. And the colors I think about, like 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.919 the blue blue scene and stuff. It just talk about 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:03.000 that the visual effect you were looking forward, did you, guys, like, 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.359 what kind of references might you have had that? Oh? Yeah, 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.320 the very specific um. The thing I loved about Maddie was, uh, 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.000 I was a big fan of black Swan and requeing 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.040 for a Dream, But really it was because Jennifer Lawrence 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.520 had really I asked her what she thought, and because 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.560 I was looking for a dp UM. I had such 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:22.840 a specific vision of how I wanted to shoot everything, 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.359 and it's specifically the concert stuff that was one of 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.960 the compositions. I made a decision early on and even 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:29.960 told Warner Brothers. I said, look, I'm never going to 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:31.840 be in this crowd, so I just want to I 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:33.760 want to you guys to know that now it's all 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:35.200 going to be on the stage, it's all going to 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.760 be subjective, and I'm gonna give you scope and intimacy 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.159 at the same time. So when I met with him 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:42.359 and he was kind of to meet with me in 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:47.080 my house. I talked about primary colors. Um, I wanted 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:49.320 each character to be defined by a color, and then 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:52.760 how that changes as the movie progresses, UM, how I 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.800 wanted to shoot it, what aspect ratio, the concert stuff. 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.000 And then I just said, you know, and um, you 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.680 know the use of that he cam and handheld and 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:03.639 Dolly and how we're gonna how that those are all 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:05.880