A Star Is Reborn

Praise for A STAR IS REBORN

“Film historian Hofler provides a chatty and entertaining behind-the-scenes account of the many lives of the classic film A Star Is Born. … Fans will delight in his attention to detail and trivia, including alternate casting options (Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant were considered as potential costars with Garland; Beyoncé was originally envisioned as the star of the 2018 remake). Informative and enjoyable, this will be popcorn for fans of the movie.” —Publishers Weekly

“If not as old as time, it’s a tale as old as the movies: Two stars fall in love and marry. One’s career soars as the other’s sinks, helped along by substance abuse. It ends with a tragedy. That’s the story of A Star Is Born, filmed four times so far. The first two were set in the movie business, the latter two in the world of rock music. Although these are all heterosexual pairings, there is much in every version that resonates with LGBTQ+ audiences, says Robert Hofler, author of the new book A Star Is Reborn, which explores these four films as well as their predecessor, 1932’s What Price Hollywood?” —The Advocate

“Robert Hofler conducts a revealing backstage joyride of another classic film phenomenon with A Star Is Reborn. His signature blend of insight, sharply observed detail, and love of the movies illuminates the often brilliant, sometimes reckless artistry and studio decision-making that go into four generations of one of Hollywood’s greatest epics.” —Bob Spitz, author of Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child

“A Star is Born has always been a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of stardom (and also the lack of it), but at the same time it’s served as a vehicle to catapult various dazzling women into greater fame. Critic-author Robert Hofler pulls the tinsel even farther back and gives us a detailed peek at the way each Star is Born envisioned the Hollywood dream machine, both on screen and off. Great job—there’s not a fact that got away.” —Michael Musto, author of Manhattan on the Rocks

“Every Hollywood generation can’t seem to resist gazing at itself in the cracked mirror of A Star Is Born, the love story of a doomed fading star and the talented young woman who worships him yet cannot rescue him from self-destruction. Robert Hofler jumps nimbly and authoritatively from What Price Hollywood?, the little-remembered 1932 original, to its four A Star Is Born reincarnations, capturing the raging ambition, narcissism and vulnerability at the heart of Hollywood’s obsession with itself.” —Glenn Frankel, author of Shooting Midnight Cowboy

“The many lives of the four screen versions of A Star Is Born are explored with stunning detail and skillful analysis in Robert Hofler’s exhaustively researched and hypnotically readable A Star is Reborn: Gaga & Streisand & Gaynor & Garland. The plot of the rising star and her falling star lover may be a Hollywood trope, but Hofler takes the reader down lively side paths, reveals, and entertaining tangents that literally every page has something new. It’s a must-read not only for fans of the movies but also for friends of Dorothy.” —Nat Segaloff, author of The Exorcist Legacy