Andrew Dice Clay – aka The Diceman – is in advanced talks to join Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (here making his directorial debut) in A Star Is Born. Deadline reports that the notorious comedian will play Lady Gaga’s “very Italian” father in the remake of the 1937 classic.
This’ll be the fourth A Star Is Born to hit cinemas. William A. Wellman’s original was remade with Judy Garland and James Mason in 1954, then with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in 1976. The plot examines the effects of celebrity, with an ingenue singer falling in love with an established star. Over the course of the movie, the woman’s fame rises as the man’s falls – resulting all manner of booze-soaked bickering.
It’s a prime role for Lady Gaga, following her award-winning dramatic performance in American Horror Story. She’s made a couple of big screen appearances over years, turning up in minor parts in Muppets Most Wanted and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, but neither have been anything to write home about. If she can prove her mettle here, then the sky’s the limit.
Andrew Dice Clay at first seems like an odd fit for the famously progressively minded pop star. After all, he’s renowned as a sexist, homophobic pig who revels in offending liberal audiences. Yet, the two aren’t as different as you might think. Gaga has a drag alter-ego Jo Calderone who takes a more than a little inspiration from the Diceman persona. The resemblance didn’t escape Clay, either, who said in 2011:
“Watching her up there as Jo Calderone, I was sort of wondering, ‘Is this why they wanted me [back on MTV]? I called her Lady G. She’s a gangster, you know, but next time, she’s got to wear the leather. She’s got to make it authentic.”
We’ll hopefully see them together soon enough as A Star Is Born begins shooting April 17.
