Bradley Cooper recalls meeting with Jay-Z, Beyonce

LOS ANGELES: American actor Bradley Cooper recalled meeting with Jay-Z and Beyonce. The 49-year-old actor met with the power couple to get the Renaissance songstress to play Ally, an aspiring singer, in 'A Star is Born,' before the role ultimately went to Lady Gaga.

Cooper revealed that he offered Beyonce the role to studio head Greg Silverman, who said he would do it if he could cast the singer as the protagonist and "make it for under $25 million."

People reported that Cooper said during a recent interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, "I went to Beyonce's house, and Jay-Z was watching Judge Judy, I still remember. I'm not kidding. And I was freaking [out]. I remember I had this weird cough when I was pitching it to her."

"It was crazy. She was incredible and so was he, and we developed it for like a year together. I mean, she's one of the greatest people of all time. Then that fell through."

Cooper stated that he then considered Adele for the role, but she only texted him back once and was "busy." After watching Gaga sing at a benefit concert, Cooper, who ended up directing the film and playing country singer Jackson 'Jack' Maine, knew he had found his leading lady the lead actor, as per People. "It just blew the doors off of the whole place, and it was in that moment where it was like, 'That's it. What was I even thinking?' And then I asked to meet her," explained Cooper.

At the 91st Academy Awards, the film received eight nominations and won Best Original Song for Cooper and Gaga's duet 'Shallow.' Cooper told The Ellen DeGeneres Show in April 2019 that he would like to give a live reading of the film's script.

"What I thought would be a cool thing to do, maybe one night, would be like a live reading of the script and sing all the songs as we read the script, like at the Hollywood Bowl or something," said Cooper. Although the concept did not come to fruition, he and Gaga reconnected on the Maestro red carpet in December 2023.