Bradley Cooper, Andy Serkis Show Footage From ‘A Star Is Born,’ ‘Mowgli’
By Leo Barraclough
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Warner Bros. gave a sneak peek of upcoming hot movies Monday at European exhibitors’ conference in Barcelona, with the help of star guests Bradley Cooper and Andy Serkis, who showed footage from “A Star Is Born” and “Mowgli,” their respective movies as directors and actors.
As well as showing the trailer, which garnered 70 million views in its first week online, Cooper premiered the first eight minutes of his helming debut, “A Star Is Born,” in which he stars alongside Lady Gaga. The clip shows Cooper as a drug and alcohol addled singer, while Lady Gaga is a lowly waitress with aspirations to become a singer, but still forced to put out the trash.
Cooper said he wanted to depict a love story as it often happens to be in real life: a mix of turmoil, trouble, magic, tragedy and ultimately hope. He said that when he met Lady Gaga at a cancer benefit event she blew his mind and he knew she was the one to play the part of Ally.
Cooper said that Lady Gaga had insisted that the songs were recorded live and performances took place at real venues, including Coachella, Stagecoach, Glastonbury and The Forum.
He said that he had just explained to Serkis back-stage that Warner was the first studio to give him a real chance as an actor with “The Hangover,” and then backed him further on “American Sniper,” which he produced.
Serkis said that when he boarded “Mowgli,” it had the title “Jungle Book: Origins.” He said he had had two primary objectives: first, to engage with Rudyard Kipling’s world and stay close to his book, and to reflect the time in which the book had been written – colonial India, grounding the story in emotional and historic reality; and second, to make the animal characters emotionally believable and relatable. He wanted to portray Mowgli as an outsider, he said.
One of the clips showed a rite of passage in which Mowgli and the wolf clubs have to perform a grueling physical test called “The Run.” The other clip showed Mowgli in captivity in the human village as Bagheera, played by Christian Bale, pays a visit and tells Mowgli he must remain with the humans and win their trust.
Another movie previewed was James Wan’s “Aquaman,” featuring a reluctant superhero, played by Jason Momoa, and a kick-ass female protagonist, played by Amber Heard. The trailer was previewed at CineEurope before its release in the next few days.
Among other movies teased was “The Nun,” the latest in the line of spine-chilling and nail-biting horror movies in the “Conjuring” scary-verse. It follows on from “It,” the biggest grossing horror film of all time with $700 million. The “It” sequel, “It: Chapter Two,” is in production and is out in September 2019. The director, Andy Muschietti, advised delegates in a video clip to bring their adult diapers. Two other “Conjuring” movies are on their way: “Annabelle 3” and “The Children,” a working title, both due for release in 2019.
Tom Molter, head of international distribution at Warner, told delegates that the studio had grossed $1.3 billion so far this year with movies including “Tomb Raider,” “Ready Player One” and “Rampage,” and $1 billion of that came from international markets. Next up was “Ocean’s 8,” which had grossed $42 million from domestic as it started its global rollout.
