'A Star Is Born' Extended Cut Might Be In The Works

Bradley's Cooper's acclaimed remake of A Star Is Born starring himself and Lady Gaga already clocks in at 2 hours and 15 minutes. However, if the film's cinematographer is to be believed, there might be an extended cut of the movie on the way.

In a recent interview, director of photography Matthew Libatique (who has shot movies ranging from Iron Man to Black Swan) talked about the evolution of the film over time, and he revealed that an extended cut might put some deleted scenes and footage back into the movie.

Speaking with The Film Stage, Libatique talked about how the movie came together with Bradley Cooper whittling the movie down to its core. He actually saw five different cuts of the movie before it was finished:

"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."

This is true of any motion picture. Often, the director and editor realize that certain scenes are redundant or don't accomplish anything that furthers the story they're trying to tell. Other times, some of those scenes can also be easily put back into the movie and still add a little something to the story, but the movie just needs to be trimmed for a more theater-friendly running time. That's where a director's cut can come into play, and Libatique thinks one might be in the works for A Star Is Born:

"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."

We haven't heard any rumblings about a Star Is Born extended cut from Warner Bros. and Bradley Cooper certainly hasn't said anything either. But there's always a chance it could end up being released on home video. Then again, maybe with so much hype around the movie this early in awards season, perhaps an extended cut could be released into theaters, maybe adding some longer music sequences for all those Lady Gaga fans out there who keep seeing the movie over and over again.

Right now, all we have to go on is Matthew Libatique's understanding that a different cut of A Star Is Born might be in the works. But we'll probably be waiting a little while before we find out whether or not we'll get to see it.