Warner Bros. has hired Will Fetters to write the latest draft of their long-gestating remake of A Star Is Born.
The fourth official version of the rags-to-riches tale, in which a showbiz couple meet, fall in love and then see their careers head in increasingly different directions (her into the stratosphere, him into the shitosphere) has been in development for a while with various writers, including Reggie Rock Blythewood and the team of Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson having a go, to no avail.
But now Warners is hoping that Fetters is the man for the job. He’s been entrusted with setting the story in the music industry, retaining the situation of the 1976 Barbra Streisand/Kris Kristofferson version (the first two versions, William A. Wellmann’s in 1937 and George Cukor’s in 1954, took place in Hollywood).
Beyonce (pictured) has been linked with the remake for a while now, but nothing’s been signed or sealed. And frankly there’s no shortage of singing/dancing/acting candidates for these two roles – Justin Timberlake? Alicia Keys? That guy from The Kaiser Chiefs?
Anyway, we’ll keep an eye on this one. All depends on Fetter’s script – let’s hope he hasn’t set Final Draft to Autowrite.