A Star is Born is getting rave reviews after hitting theaters this past weekend. The film had several scenes shot in the Palm Springs area – including at the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals. As director and star of the film Bradley Cooper told Entertainment Weekly, thanks to Lady Gaga, the crew had plenty of time to film during Coachella. As for Stagecoach (and the UK’s Glastonbury fest), well, that had to happen much faster.
Born takes the audience on stage at some of the biggest festivals in the world, most notably Coachella, Stagecoach, and Glastonbury. For Coachella, Gaga both headlined the festival and shot scenes for Born. Says Gaga, “Bradley was like, ‘How are you going to do this?’ I was like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it. Ally is going to play Coachella.’ When I actually look back at Coachella, it’s more Ally to me.” Adds Cooper, “The truth is, we made this movie for a very small budget considering what it was, and her doing that allowed us to have the week in between Coachella. [The grounds] were still up, so we had the run of the entire place, all the stages, for five days. It was the first stuff we shot. That was amazing because that was the first time I sang on stage with her. I couldn’t believe how easy it was.”
The other festival shoots were more efficient. “Stagecoach was shot in eight minutes between Jamey Johnson and Willie Nelson, and Glastonbury was f—ing insane,” says Cooper. “That was in front of 80,000 people. Kris Kristofferson [who starred in the 1976 version of A Star is Born with Barbra Streisand] was kind enough to give us four minutes of his set. I sang, played the guitar solo, and then I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Kris Kristofferson.’”
A Star is Born was the #2 movie in America this past weekend, taking in over $41 million. The film is a hit with critics, scoring over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and will probably win a ton of Oscars.
