‘A Star Is Born’: Lady Gaga triumphs in movie debut at Venice

Agencies
September 1, 2018

Lady Gaga spoke of her painful road to fame after she shone in her big Hollywood movie debut, “A Star Is Born”, which premiered Friday at the Venice film festival.

“Many times at the beginning of my career I was not the most beautiful woman in the room — but I wrote my own songs,” she told reporters.

The story of an “ugly” girl who thinks her nose is too big and hides behind layers of outrageous makeup had obvious autobiographical echoes for US star.

A remake of the 1937 classic, the singer was stepping into some big shoes in reprising a role already immortalised by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.

But critics hailed her magnetic performance and on-screen chemistry with co-star Bradley Cooper of “American Sniper” fame, who also directed the film.

Lady Gaga said she dug deep into her own experiences for the role.

When she was trying to make it “they often wanted me to give my songs to other singers but I held onto my music with my cold dead fingers, ‘You are not going to take my songs from me’,” she said

‘I am my own woman’

“They made suggestions about how I should look,” said the superstar, who thanked a journalist for comparing her nose to that of another great diva, the soprano Maria Callas.

Lady Gaga she said had to be “very strong to negotiate” the music industry’s attempts to remake her.

“I would always take a left turn. I never wanted to be sexy or to be viewed like other women. I wanted to be my own artist and my own woman,” she added.

Gaga, 32, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, plays an Italian-American waitress and singer who meets a country music star on the slide in a drag club where she is performing Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose”.

Sparks fly and soon this odd couple are making romantic and musical fireworks.

Gaga said her biggest fear was “being completely vulnerable and bare” on screen.

Took off her makeup

The first thing Cooper did at the screen test was wipe the makeup from her face, “and I was only wearing a little bit”, she said.

“I always love to transform myself and shape shift, it is part of my art and my music. But he wanted to see me with nothing… and he brought out this vulnerability in me, in someone who doesn’t necessarily feel safe to be vulnerable… he made me feel so free,” she added.

Cooper, 43, said their shared Italian-American roots helped weld the “amazing connection” between them, as well as the experience of shooting and singing live together in front of thousands of people at the Glastonbury and Coachella festivals in England and California.

Unlike the heroine of the film, Lady Gaga said she has never been a shrinking violet when it came to her own talent.

Never less than flamboyant, she made one of the most dramatic entrances in years at Venice, arriving on the eve of the premiere draped over the edge of a water taxi in a black bondage bustier dress with platinum blonde curls.

And her appearance at the film’s press conference was greeted by a clap of thunder across the Venetian lagoon.

“The character I play has completely given up on herself at the beginning of the movie. I was about 19 when I started as a singer and I hit the ground running. I was dragging my piano from dive bar to dive bar and I believed in myself.

“There can be 99 people in a room and you just need one to believe in you, and it was him (Cooper) for me,” the singer said of the director.

“I got to live my dream, I always wanted to be an actor.”

Meanwhile, the Coen brothers premiered their new Western “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”, a typically off-beat black comedy starring Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits and Zoe Kazan that gets off with a musical bang.

Joel Coen also took out his six-shooter to support Neflix, which financed the film, and has been locked in a bitter row with the rival Cannes film festival.

“The fact there are companies that are financing and making movies outside the mainstream is very important,” he told reporters.

“It’s what keeps the art form alive. The more the merrier.”

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: Amidst a strain in the ties between India and Nepal, actor Manisha Koirala, a Nepali national, on Monday urged people of both the countries to be not "aggressive and disrespectful" towards each other.

Koirala, a leading Bollywood actor of her times, took to Twitter to request people to let the respective government resolve the issues and stay "civil."

"A heartfelt request please let's not be aggressive and disrespectful..we are in this situation together..our respective Gov's will resolve the issue. In the meantime we can be civil ..I remain hopeful," she tweeted.

Earlier last week, Nepal 's Upper House of Parliament endorsed a proposal to discuss the Constitution amendment bill to update the country's map that incorporates parts of Indian territory.

Nepal's House of Representatives had on June 10 endorsed a proposal seeking consideration of a constitution amendment bill for change of country's map after a lengthy discussion. Nepal has made offers to India to hold "diplomatic talks to resolve the territorial issue" between the two countries.

New Delhi has said that the updated map is "not based on historical facts and evidence" and termed the claims by Nepal as artificial enlargement.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava also said that the move is violative of the current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.

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News Network
July 24,2020

New Delhi, Jul 24: With more than 50 movies under her credits and being one of the few actors from Bollywood to make a strong imprint in Hollywood, actor Priyanka Chopra started it all by winning Miss India 2000 pageant.

Chopra who is currently celebrating the completion of 20 years in the entertainment industry, on Friday looked back and reacted to the video where she was crowned as Miss India.
The' Fashion' actor shared a video on Instagram, where she is seen watching the throwback video. The 'Dostana' actor recalled winning the title and joked about her sense of style and poses back then.

Sharing the reaction video, she wrote: "Alright guys, we're doing this! I'm watching footage from my Miss India pageant in 2000! This is where it all began... If you've never seen these before, you are in for quite a treat. #20in2020 @feminamissindia."

Throughout the video, the 'Gunday' actor is seen casually commenting on her hairstyle, enacting her own movement on stage, and also recalled her luscious hair, which she now wonders where it all got lost.

However, she took a moment to appreciate the "clever and profound" answer she gave for the question that won her the crown.

While watching the winning moment, the 'Don' star noted how she never expected to win it. She explained that she had a train booked as she was to go back and take her board exams.

Going through the old photographs that run parallel to the video, she says: "These pictures are hard to look at." Pausing at a particular photograph, she laughs and says, "I don't even know how to do that pose."

"Well, this is where everything started. These are the pictures that sent me to Tinseltown," said the actor towards the end of the video.

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News Network
April 7,2020

New Delhi, Apr 7: Actor Disha Patani on Tuesday extended her warm wishes to legendary martial artist and actor Jackie Chan on his birthday.

The 'Baaghi 2' took to Instagram to share a throwback picture of herself with the Hong Kong-based actor and reminisced the times when she got the opportunity to work with him.

"Happiest b'day taguuu this was the first time I met you, I remember being so nervous but It turned out to be the best day of my life, getting an opportunity to work with my "superhero" is the best thing that has ever happened to me," she wrote in the caption.

"You teach people to be giving, loving and hardworking, thank you for blessing the world with your unreal performances and the most unforgettable life risking action sequences. Nobody can ever be "jackie chan" love you the most @jackiechan," she added.

Disha Patani and Jackie Chan worked together in a Chinese adventure comic film 'Kung Fu Yoga'.

The film was released worldwide in 2017 and it later became the highest-grossing film of Jackie Chan in China.

Besides Disha, the film also had two other Bollywood actors - Sonu Sood and Amyra Dastur.

Jackie Chan turned 66 today. He was many laurels to his name including the prestigious Oscar Award which was handed over to him in 2016 for his extraordinary achievements in the cinema industry.

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