The icon Clint Eastwood said could be “the next Ella Fitzgerald”
As a filmmaker, Clint Eastwood is known for being one of the most economical in the business, with the director only shooting a couple of takes before moving onto the next setup, with his productions always coming in on time and on budget.
That means he doesn’t often attach himself to productions, and he doesn’t end up steering from development right through to the finish line, but one of the movies he came very close to helming ended up finding major success without him.
Having already been brought to the screen in 1937, 1954, and 1976, questions were initially asked of why A Star Is Born needed to be remade again, especially when the previous trio had all been hits that gathered a combined haul of three Academy Awards from 18 nominations. Then again, the basic story is ripe for an update on a generational basis, with Eastwood’s casting generating plenty of excitement.
The icon had lined up Beyoncé to play the female lead in what would have been her biggest motion picture role to date, and he paid her the highest compliment by comparing her to the legendary performer who fully earned their nickname of ‘The First Lady of Song’.
His proposed star had suggested writing some original music for A Star Is Born, and Eastwood was hardly foolish enough to refuse. “She asked if she could write stuff for the movie, I said, ‘Yes, great’. But I also told her I would make one or two things very classical. Still classicism,” he said. “But I don’t want Beyoncé to be too classic! She has a superb voice. She could become a new Sarah Vaughan or the next Ella Fitzgerald. She has the same class. I don’t know if she knows their music, but I intend to do a good education for the movie.”
Of course, Beyoncé has long since been placed into a category of her own after becoming one of the bestselling artists in history and racking up a record-setting 32 Grammy wins, and she’d already released four smash hit studio albums by the time she’d even entered talks to star in Eastwood’s A Star Is Born.
When he departed the film and Bradley Cooper signed on to make his directorial debut on the project, his first port of call was gauging whether or not she was interested in remaining on board. “We developed it for like a year together and then that fell through,” he admitted to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, and after Adele didn’t respond to his text messages, Lady Gaga ended up with the part.
Eastwood and Beyoncé would have been a fascinating combination, but Cooper and Gaga steered their version of A Star Is Born to well over $400 million at the box office, the Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’, and seven further nods, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actor’, and ‘Best Actress’, so it all worked out fine in the end.
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