Month: October 2018

When Bradley Cooper saw Lady Gaga perform “La Vie en Rose” at a fundraiser at the home of entrepreneur Sean Parker, it wasn’t one of the important moments along the road to making “A Star Is Born.” It was, Cooper says, THE moment.

 

“She demolished the room,” he recalls, still wide-eyed about it. “I knew that was plutonium.”

 

The next day, Cooper went to Gaga’s home in Malibu to confirm that what he had seen the night before was real. He arrived hungry. Gaga — whose friends call her by her real name, Stefani — fed him some leftover spaghetti, and the two East Coast, Italian American-raised performers (Cooper is from Philadelphia, Gaga New York) felt an immediate, natural connection. “Instantly,” says Gaga. “When I saw his eyes, when I opened the door.”

 

Within minutes, they were singing by Gaga’s piano and “A Star Is Born” was, well, born.

 

“And when I heard him sing! My God! I stopped playing the piano and I was like, ‘Bradley you can sing!'” said Gaga, sitting next to her co-star and director. “And he was like, ‘Really?’ And then he said, ‘Let’s film it.’ He started filming it on his phone.”

 

Cooper shakes his head. “It was nuts.”

 

It can be hard to separate the already mythologized transformations — Cooper directs! Gaga acts! — that fueled “A Star Is Born” from the fictional fable of fame, itself. In both the movie’s creation and in the finished product are lessons of bold chances and artistic integrity, of personal frailty and popular success. “A Star Is Born” is a movie mirrored by its making.

 

“A Star Is Born” is the fourth version of the story (or fifth, depending on how you count). First was George Cukor’s “What Price Hollywood?” in 1932, followed by William Wellman’s 1937 remake. Later came one with Judy Garland and James Mason in 1954 and one in 1973 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.

 

A new “A Star Is Born” has been in development for about two decades at Warner Bros., with various incarnations once planned around Will Smith and Whitney Houston, or Beyonce and Leonardo DiCaprio with Clint Eastwood directing. Cooper, who starred in Eastwood’s “American Sniper,” first discussed acting in the film for Eastwood before deciding to direct, too. For encouragement, Eastwood visited the set on the first day of shooting.

 

“I remember he said he liked my boots,” says Gaga. “I turned bright red.”

 

Cooper, though, put his own imprint on “A Star Is Born,” retailoring the story and  he hopes — launching himself as a writer and director. With meticulous preparation, Cooper — ever the student — threw himself into the new role. Often, he could be found under a table in a scene with a monitor so as to be as close as possible to the actors. “He was tireless,” says Sam Elliott, who plays Cooper’s brother in the film. “He never quit on it, from beginning to end. It probably drove the studio nuts at some point that he wouldn’t quit on it.”

 

“Being 39 when I started this journey, I just realize: Time is the biggest currency. If I don’t do what I keep feeling inside, constantly seeing shots in my head,” Cooper says, trailing off. “I always knew that at some point I had to stop critiquing other movies and just make one.”

 

Cooper stars as Jackson Maine, a hard-drinking, country-rock ‘n’ roll star in the vein of Gregg Allman. (Maine’s band is played by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Neil Young’s regular backing band.) When Jackson ducks into a drag bar for a drink, he’s blown away by Ally (Gaga), who’s there singing — what else — “La Vie en Rose.”

 

A naturally talented singer who has essentially given up on her music dreams, Ally has always been told her look (and her nose) isn’t quite right. She and Jackson quickly fall in love, even as Jackson’s drinking problem worsens, but not before they can together forge something honest and beautiful through music, catapulting Ally to stardom.

 

“When I’m watching it back, I see myself as a much younger girl, more like when I was 15 writing songs at the piano,” says Gaga. “What Jackson is trying to teach her is something that I still want to give more of in my music now and in the future. It’s the nakedness of talent.”

 

A rare fervor has greeted Cooper’s “A Star Is Born.” Its trailer has been watched more than 10 million times, many of them repeat, misty-eyed views. And if there’s one thing that accounts for its swoon-inducing power it’s this self-empowering message of fame coming to those who are true to themselves.

 

It’s something that resonates for many in the cast, too, like Anthony Ramos, who plays Ally’s best friend. The 26-year-old actor, who grew up in the projects of Bushwick, Brooklyn, caught his big break when Lin-Manuel Miranda cast him in “Hamilton.”

 

“I’ve had teachers tell me, ‘You have to be this or you have to be that to be successful. You have to change the way you speak. You have to grow your hair out.’ I’ve had people tell me all kinds of things to give me the formula for success,” says Ramos. “But what I realize, which you find by the end of this movie, all you gotta do is love yourself and believe in yourself, and continue to be your truest self.”

 

For even the 74-year-old veteran actor Elliott, “A Star Is Born” has been cause for reflection on his own path. For decades, Elliott, with his sonorous drawl and trademark mustache, has been resolutely himself, in any role.

 

“Nobody’s ever going to confuse me with a chameleon. I’m just not one of those kind of actors,” says Elliott. “Ben Johnson told me one time: ‘I might not be a very good actor, but nobody else can play Ben Johnson better than I can.’ And that somehow resonated with me. It was about character. It was about integrity. It was about what makes up the man.”

 

Gaga, who has rallied her fans (“little monsters”) around a message of self-acceptance, says she identifies equally with her character and with the more troubled Jackson. The pop star has previously been forthright about her struggles with mental health, and has said she was raped at age 19.

 

“Jackson’s plight in the film and his substance abuse, it really stays with me. The mental health aspect, the substance abuse aspect, the trauma aspect. I told Bradley right after we watched it in Venice that I had to take 30 minutes to myself in a back room somewhere,” says Gaga. “If I act again, the experience has to be as deep as this one or it wouldn’t be fulfilling to me.”

 

Cooper, too, says “A Star is Born” has altered him.

 

“I find myself thinking of lines Jackson says often, just in terms of taking on a new project: What am I trying to say and how am I going to say it?” the 43 year-old says. “Any other project that comes after this, I just have to be brutally honest with myself and listen to Jackson.”

 

Ramos’ success recently inspired his own older brother to — like Ally does in the film — quit his job and “go for it.” After “A Star Is Born” opens in theaters Friday, more walkouts may follow, more stars ready to be born.

 

“Everybody quit their job!” jokes Ramos. “Naw, not everyone can quit. We need some people working.”
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A Christian TV network is entering the crowded world of 24-hour news broadcasting at a time when the mainstream news media is under increasing attack by President Donald Trump and some of his supporters, many of them evangelicals.

 

The Christian Broadcasting Network’s news channel will provide a religious perspective that other channels lack, CEO Gordon Robertson told The Associated Press in an interview in advance of the network’s formal launch Monday.

 

The CBN News Channel, to air on local television stations in 15 U.S. cities, will produce original programming and commentary on everything from the power of prayer to Justin Bieber’s faith and Christian persecution in the Middle East, Robertson said last week.

 

Robertson, son of evangelist Pat Robertson, said he wants the channel to bring people together. But it is making its debut in an increasingly fractured media landscape and divided nation. Trump sometimes uses evangelical outlets to reach supporters, while shunning other news outlets.

 

“Trump’s modus operandi is not essentially to reach out to new audiences, but to create division and polarization to energize his base,” said Mark Ward, an associate professor of communication at the University of Houston-Victoria, who writes about evangelical mass media.

 

“If that’s your strategy and evangelicals are such a huge part of your base, why would you not use the media organs that are available?” Ward said.

 

Pat Robertson helped revolutionize religious TV through the Christian Broadcasting Network. He also ran for president in 1988 and worked to galvanize conservative Christians into a political force in the 1990s.

 

Last year, Trump told Pat Robertson on his show, “The 700 Club,” that he has “a tremendous audience.”

 

“You have people that I love, the evangelicals,” Trump said.

 

David Brody, CBN’s chief political analyst in Washington, also has interviewed the president as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, among others in the White House. Brody recently co-authored the book, “The Faith of Donald J. Trump.”

 

Critics have accused Brody and the elder Robertson of being less than objective.

 

“Brody has bragged about having unprecedented access to this White House, which makes sense because he’s throwing them softballs,” said Kyle Mantyla, a senior fellow for the liberal organization People For the American Way, which runs the Right Wing Watch project.

 

Gordon Robertson said critics are missing the point.

 

“What I think is missing is an opportunity for someone to come in and just tell their story from their point of view, not give it an angle, not try to be argumentative,” he said. “I think we’ve been criticized for allowing people to speak. But from my point of view, we want that.”

 

For the past two decades, CBN has produced shows and run them on the ABC Family channel, now known as Freeform, as well as CBN’s own online platforms.

 

Many of those shows will run on the new channel, which is airing on the sub-channels that local stations started broadcasting after switching to a digital signal.

 

Among the shows included in the news channel’s lineup are “Jerusalem Dateline” which will focus on Israel, and “Faith Nation” which is centered on politics. The channel also will provide programming about healthy living and entertainment, Gordon Robertson said.

 

Those profiled by CBN include Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who went to jail in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The network also has been monitoring the story of Andrew Brunson, a U.S. pastor detained in Turkey on charges of espionage and terrorism-related crimes.

 

The battle over Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, fueled much of the channel’s news shows last month during its soft launch in a handful of U.S. cities.

 

“We don’t always sit here and say, ‘Is there a Bible story that corresponds with this today?'” news director Rob Allman said during an interview last week at CBN’s studios in Virginia Beach. CBN also has studios in Washington and Jerusalem.

 

CBN is launching the new channel in part to appeal to a growing number of viewers who cancel cable subscriptions in favor of streaming services and free broadcast TV.

 

The nonprofit channel’s success will mostly depend on donations, not advertisements.

 

Most donors are older and like to watch TV.

 

“There’s something that happens to people after the age of 50,” Gordon Robertson said, “where they start thinking about legacy and they start thinking about eternity.”
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Twice a week, a group of women gathers in downtown Leesburg, Virginia, to get their hands dirty. They’re taking an art class at the Clay and Metal Loft. The studio was founded by two local artists and serves two purposes: it’s a work space for producing and selling pottery and jewelry, and it’s a community space for the aspiring local artists to gain the skills and confidence needed to start their own business.

Hands in clay

 

In the Clay Hand-Building class, ceramist Amy Manson shares techniques with participants who seem to be enjoying what they are learning, which today is using the pinch pot process to create a pumpkin. “So, we’re making two pinch pots and closing them to make a round orb and sculpt it to look like a pumpkin. The first time might be a little bit scary. They are not sure, a little bit intimidated on how hard to push or how the clay is going to react, but after one time, they get a little more confidence and feel good about it.”

Barbara Johnson is one of Mason’s students with a background in art. She started doing pottery three years ago.

 

“I do lots of painting, very much crafting,” she said. “I love to do decorating. I’ve done stained glass. I’ve done all kinds of things. I like to go from thing to thing to thing. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing pottery though. Having your hands in clay is just this calming kind of thing and it’s so creative because you may start out thinking you’re going to make this piece, and it turns to something totally different.”

 

Johnson set up a pottery studio in her home and has recently begun selling her work to a local retailer. She admits, “I’m humbled a lot of times, when someone says they want to want to purchase my things, and have them in their home. It’s just one of the things that make you feel so good.”

 

Even though she’s selling her work, Johnson still enjoys Manson’s class. “Amy is amazing as far as allowing us to learn her different techniques, all the things she learned over the years. She shares all of it. Just the little things that you go. ‘Ah, that’s amazing. I can incorporate it in doing my pottery at home.’ Being with other gals, I’m loving just the idea of being with women who are amazing potters and you’re in the process of learning all the time from everyone else.”

 

Transforming experiences

 

For her part, Manson says inspiring others, passing on skills and watching them grow is rewarding.

About five years ago, she and her friend, Ann Andre, started looking for a space to start this business. “We thought it would be a lot of fun to give back a little bit,” says Andre, who has 30 years of experience as a goldsmith and metalsmith. “We had been working in our own businesses, but then to teach and have other people work. We thought wouldn’t it be great to do something that was more clay and jewelry making because we didn’t see anything like that before?!”

The feedback from students, she says, has all been positive. “When they start, they see a project that we’re going to do for two hours and they don’t think they can do it,” she explains. “Then, they realize, ‘Oh, I can. I can transform this.’ They hammer the metal. They get an effect. They never thought they could do themselves. They form things like a bracelet. They’re just excited they made this and they go out wearing it, which is really nice.”

 

That’s how her student, Jennifer Metesh, feels, when she wears the turquoise and silver pendant she made. “I’m a country girl grew up with horses,” Metesh says. “Turquoise is always a kind of a symbol of that rustic look.”

 

Considering a second career beyond horses, she’s finding a potential in jewelry making. “I wanted it to be my fun thing. I feel that there has been such a revival of the handmade items that people are more willing to pay for something that is made by a single artist than something that’s mass produced.”

 

The founders of Clay and Metal Loft want to be part of that revival. Through summer camps, they want to inspire kids. And through their monthly ladies’ night workshops, they try to help busy professionals unwind.

 

Their goal is to become a creative, fun space for the entire community of Leesburg.
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French singer Charles Aznavour has died at the age of 94, French media reported on Monday, citing his spokesman.

Aznavour, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries.

He was often described as France’s Frank Sinatra.

Aznavour began his career peddling his music to French artists of the 1940s and 1950s such as Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier and Charles Trenet.

He discovered his talent for penning songs while performing in cabarets with partner Pierre Roche, with Roche playing the piano and Aznavour singing.

It was after World War II that Piaf took notice of the duo and took them with her on a tour of the United States and Canada, with Aznavour composing some of her most popular hits.

The young Aznavour grew up on Paris’ Left Bank. His father was a singer who also worked as a cook and restaurant manager, and his mother was an actress.

Aznavour’s first public performances were at Armenian dances where his father and older sister Aida sang, and the young Charles danced.

President Emmanuel Macron was a big fan of Aznavour and sang many of his songs during karaoke nights with friends when he was a student, according to former classmates.

 
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