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A Star Is Born, Bradley Cooper, One Great Scene, Sam Elliott, Scene expectation, The importance of casting - July 18, 2019

One Great Scene: A STAR IS BORN

In this series of articles, we’re going to do a deep-dive on one knockout scene from a great movie. Today’s movie is A STAR IS BORN. The scene is when Jackson (Bradley Cooper) and Bobby (Sam Elliott) fight. Here’s a link to the scene as a refresher (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUedOhkjlX4). The scene is about establishing the depths of Bradley Cooper’s drinking problem. At this point in the film, the interpretation that Sam Elliott might be a classic problematic family member/stage-manager is still open. So, when Jackson punches Bobby, at first, we as the audience think he could be right. The accusation, that...

Script Openings: A STAR IS BORN

Opening your script in a way that hooks the audience is an existentially important factor for all screenwriters. Especially at the earlier stages of your career, having that great hook into the script is likely the difference between the person on the other side of the table (a development executive, agent, manager, producer, director) putting the script down or reading on. The recent film A STAR IS BORN (nominated for eight Oscars this year) has an incredibly compelling first half hour. It easily could not have. Bradley Cooper is on record as saying that close friends of his urged him...

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