Jay-Z is apparently a fan of Judge Judy.
Bradley Cooper shared this revelation in an interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, where he explained how he came to direct 2018’s A Star is Born.
Following the success of 2014’s American Sniper, in which Cooper played the lead role and served as a producer, he went to Greg Silverman to pitch A Star is Born. The film producer then told Cooper, “‘If you can make it for under $25 million and you can get Beyoncé, I’ll do it.’”
“I went to Beyoncé’s house and Jay-Z was watching Judge Judy, I still remember. I’m not kidding. And I was freaking [out],” Cooper explained at around the 43:20 minute mark in the video below. “She was incredible and so was he, and we developed it for like a year together. I mean, she’s one of the greatest people of all time. Then that fell through.”
In October 2012, Variety reported that Bey was set to play the lead, Esther Blodgett but had to drop out of the project due to her pregnancy. At the time, Clint Eastwood was at the helm of A Star is Born and had approached Cooper to play the lead. Eastwood later exited his roles as producer and director—roles that Cooper later assumed.
After Beyoncé left the cast, Cooper tried to bring in Adele for the lead role, before landing on Lady Gaga.
The film received eight nominations at the 2019 Oscars, taking home the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Shallow.”
