In 2016 there was Moonlight. In 2017, Call Me By Your Name. And in 2018—assuming we all live to see it—the big gay Oscar hopeful of the year will be A Star Is Born. Variety reports Thursday that the film’s scheduled release date has been pushed back five months, from May to October, in the hopes that it will be more seriously considered during awards season.
While the film, a remake of a remake of a remake that stars Bradley Cooper (currently in a heterosexual relationship with Irina Shayk) and Lady Gaga (currently engaged to a man named Christian Carino) as lovers/music partners, is not a “gay movie” in the sense of either Oscar contender I mentioned earlier—meaning it is not about a same-sex romance that proves emotionally tortuous for both parties—it is a gay movie in the sense that it is a remake of a Barbra Streisand musical that is itself a remake of a Judy Garland musical which is, oops, a remake of a big ol’ Janet Gaynor-starring Selznickian extravaganza. If all four of these Star Is Borns were people, the ghost of Edith Head would stitch them together into a fabulous, rainbow-colored human centipede.
His own sexuality aside, that Bradley Cooper refers to this film of all films as a passion project is truly one of the gayest things imaginable (I mean that with the utmost love and admiration), and regardless of who you are or how you identify, real or fictional relationships with any version of Lady Gaga or Stefani Germanotta—Jo Calderone included—are gay, gay, gay.
I’m so happy for everyone involved.