It seems like everyone, even Mother Nature herself, is hyped for Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s new film A Star Is Born.
Variety reports that about halfway through the movie’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, the theater was apparently struck by lightning — blowing out the projector bulb and putting the film on hold for nearly 15 minutes.
But Gaga and Cooper took the delay in stride. As theater technicians worked to get the movie back on, Gaga was seen laughing and blowing kisses at the crowd. TV host and journalist Derek Blasberg live-tweeted the outage, saying that Cooper — who is also making his directorial debut with A Star Is Born — was just as gracious about it, yelling out from his seat, “Thanks for waiting!”
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The movie went back up without (another) hitch to applause and cheers from the audience, per Deadline.
Although no one foresaw anything quite like a freak meteorological incident, the premiere of A Star Is Born was already set to be an event. True to form, Gaga arrived in Venice in style: via boat, channeling vintage Hollywood glam in a sleek black dress and curled updo. She came to the film premiere hand-in-hand with Cooper, wearing a flowing pale pink fringe gown.
The movie itself also caused quite a stir. A few sneak peeks earlier this year turned into a memorable trailer featuring Gaga belting her heart out. The behind-the-scenes stories — Gaga’s total no-makeup makeover! An in-character Saturday Night Live performance! — sparked even more conversation among fans.
If dispatches from Venice are any indication, the anticipation is already paying off. Critics are raving over Gaga’s performance, and the film — which currently sits at a healthy 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, thanks to first reviews — is stirring plenty of early awards season buzz.
Deadline reports that even after the unanticipated lightning strike, the movie got an eight-minute standing ovation from the Venice crowd.
The rest of us can catch A Star Is Born when it opens widely on October 5 — hopefully, this time, without interruption.