Lady Gaga Says Oscar-Snubbed Bradley Cooper Is “The Best Director in My Eyes”
Early Tuesday morning, the Academy released the 2019 Oscar nominations, including an impressive eight nods for A Star Is Born. Though three of those potential statuettes—for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor—would go to producer, writer, and star Bradley Cooper, his fourth role in the film, as director, went overlooked by the Academy in what some are calling a major snub.
But while the Academy may have withheld its recognition for Cooper’s directing prowess, Lady Gaga, whose own role in the film landed her Best Actress and Best Original Song nominations, has done the exact opposite. On Wednesday, when asked about her costar’s snub, Gaga told The Los Angeles Times, “Well, you know, you never know what’s going to happen…But at the end of the day, he knows that he’s the best director in my eyes, and in all of our eyes as his cast. I know that he’s so happy that we’ve all been nominated and that the film was recognized, and we all feel really, really beyond elated for the recognition.”
Honestly, at this point—with the usual celebrity Oscars host being replaced with an empty space and fewer people watching (or caring about) the broadcast than ever—it’s only a matter of time until the Academy Awards turn into the Lady Gaga Awards, with the pop star honoring all the best filmmakers “in her eyes.”
In a statement of his own on Tuesday, Cooper was nothing but gracious for his inclusion among the other nominees. “Everyone who worked on this film truly risked putting themselves out there—in the hope that in doing so people will connect and feel something deep and personal—the way films have made me feel since I was a kid. When I got this opportunity I knew I had to risk it all because I may never get another chance, so to be here today in a place where people who have seen the film are talking about how it makes them feel something deep—that simple human thing, that we need each other—and for the Academy to recognize that this morning, I just am so grateful,” he wrote.
Cooper, who was nominated for directing awards by the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, BAFTAs, and Directors Guild of America Awards, has previously spoken about how important it was to him to direct the latest iteration of A Star Is Born. In a September 2018 interview with Time, he called the directing experience “an artistic catharsis.” “I’ve always known I wanted to direct,” he said. “Always. So it was about facing the fear of doing it. I said by 40 if I haven’t taken a shot, shame on me.”
Related: Could Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper EGOT (Together)?
