Matthew Libatique: "I think they’re doing a new cut, a director’s cut [of A Star is Born]"

Matthew Libatique has revealed that there is a lot, and I mean A LOT of footage that was unused in A Star is Born. That must be normal right?

Fans have caught on and noticed that many scenes that were featured in the music videos released in the last few weeks, along with scenes in the trailer were never actually in the movie. Well we’re in luck! In an interview with The Film Stage, Libatique was asked about the different versions of the film.

At the risk of misquoting you, you’d talked about seeing “five very different cuts.” That’s intriguing, because A Star is Born has a clear track — filmmakers can insert their own interests, but the arc’s largely set in place. How did other versions play?

I mean, they were different cuts. For me, I see an early cut, then see its evolution. Bradley was working on it — intensely working on it — to find a flow. It’s a rather long film because the music is in it. Things had to go so the music could take place; it couldn’t all exist at the same time. We shot, probably, more movie than is in the movie because of that. I think, editorially, he really started to shave it down to the bare essence of what the love story was. And that’s really all he was doing — making sure that was his priority — and you have to make some really tough decisions. Some performances.

I think they’re actually doing a new cut, a director’s cut, and putting some stuff back in. I think there’s always the concern about length, but, for him, I think it was mostly the concern about, ‘When am I stepping outside the forward narrative of this love story, and when am I stepping outside the idea that you have one character ascending, another descending.’ I think that’s all he was doing when doing different cuts, is trying to find that soul.

Collider weighed in and said: “This A Star Is Born extended cut has yet to be confirmed by Warner Bros. or Cooper, and it’s possible Libatique is mistaken. I’d be surprised if, in the midst of a major Oscar campaign for the film as-is, Cooper released a “director’s cut. Or perhaps Cooper does have a longer director’s cut in the works. At this point it’s unclear, and again I’d be surprised if anything was released soon given that the Oscar campaign hinges upon the version of the film that’s currently in theaters.”