Watch Restored Footage From Barbra Streisand’s ‘A Star Is Born’ Before It Airs on Netflix: Exclusive
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On Friday, Netflix will premiere a new edition of Barbra Streisand’s A Star Is Born, complete with restored footage originally cut from the 1976 film.
Among the scenes excised was Streisand’s character playing an instrumental version of “Evergreen” on the guitar for her lover, played by Kris Kristofferson.
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The song, co-written by Streisand and Paul Williams, went on to win the Academy Award for best original song. “I learned how to play the guitar and wrote the melody to ‘Evergreen’ for this film and ended up cutting this scene out,” said Streisand in a statement. “Who knew the song would become such a big hit?”
Netflix is keeping Streisand’s actual performance of the song under wraps until the movie premieres, but a few hours ahead of the special edition going live, Billboard has an exclusive snippet of a vulnerable, nervous Streisand preparing to play the unfinished song for Kristofferson, asking, “If you don’t like, it, I’d like you to tell me… If you laugh, I’ll kill you.” The fact that she can pluck guitar strings at all with those long fingernails is admirable.
As previously announced, Netflix is also posting six vintage Streisand television specialsL My Name Is Barbra(1965), Color Me Barbra (1966), Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park (1968), Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments (1973), Barbra Streisand: The Concert (1994) and Barbra Streisand: Timeless (2001). Netflix aired a new Streisand concert, Barbra: The Music… The Mem’ries… The Magic!, earlier this year.
In October, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s remake of A Star Is Born will be released.
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