Barbra Streisand criticises 2018's A Star is Born remake

Barbra Streisand has expressed, in a new interview with The Sunday Project, that she believes the 2018 remake of A Star is Born starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper was too similar to the 1976 version.

Streisand had starred as the lead, Esther Hoffman, in the 1976 production alongside Kris Kristofferson. Prior to this, there was a 1954 version of A Star is Born starring Judy Garland and James Mason and an original 1937 version of the story with actors Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.

In the Sunday Project interview, Streisand spoke about how the remake would have been more interesting had the rumoured Will Smith and Beyoncé been cast as the leads.

“At first, when I heard it was going to be done again, it was supposed to be Will Smith and Beyoncé, and I thought, that’s interesting. Really make it different again, different kind of music, integrated actors, I thought that was a great idea,” she said. “I was surprised when I saw how alike it was to the version that I did in 1976.”

Streisand said she thought redoing the film was “the wrong idea”. Streisand is largely in the minority with this opinion as the 2018 film received numerous accolades.

These included eight Oscar nominations, plus a win for Best Original Song with 'Shallow'. A Star is Born also earned five nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture and, again, won Best Original Song for 'Shallow'. The film's soundtrack received seven Grammy nominations, winning four, and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year twice.

Despite this and the film's major success in the box office, grossing $436m, Streisand noted "I don’t care so much about success as I do originality”.

Watch the interview with Barbra Streisand below.