Gaga's acting coach speaks (Toronto Star article)

[BornSimon 4,818]

Gaga appears on today's Toronto Star's front page

With this article

Lady Gaga and Nicole Kidman share a secret

One is in town to debut a role that has previously been put to celluloid four times before, once notably by Judy Garland: a Pygmalion tale that affords no shortage of onscreen pyrotechnics.

The other arrives in Toronto to take on the kind of part that has typically been reserved for men (Jack Nicholson, Guy Pearce): holding up an L.A. crime noir in which she gives it all her own dimension, as one early viewer tweeted the other day: “Cop, mother, sinner, saint, angel and demon.”

Lady Gaga in A Star is Born and Nicole Kidman in Destroyer are already riding a wind of Best Actress speculation before their premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday. But there is something else, amazingly, that unites the two: the stealth hand of acting coach Susan Batson.

A woman of 74 who is “so tiny she breaks the five-foot mark in tottering platform sandals,” and who has been described as “a technician of the spirit,” she has long been one of Hollywood’s secret weapons. (It’s proof, too, of all the work that goes into what we see onscreen in any given year at the fest.) And though Kidman and Batson go way back — Kidman even name-checked the coach when she won her Golden Globe for Big Little Liesearlier this year — Lady Gaga, an acting neophyte, basically dialed 9-1-1-Batson to get leading-lady ready.

Not that the pop star needed too much help, as Batson shared recently. “It was her first (leading role), but you would have never known it, and I think that has something to do with the fact that she’s done so much performing already. The Lady Gaga that the public knows? They won’t see her.”

It's nothing major but I thought I'd let you know in case any Canadian fans wanted to pick this up today!

[djBuffoon 12,123]

Susan is incredible. Kidman and Cruise, among many many others, work with her on every single role they take on.

[RAMROD 109,729]

Such an honor to be compared to an Oscars winner like Kidman

[Economy 49,933]

I won't lie I had a lot of worries on how good her acting would be but with all this praise I'm no longer all that concerned and am more exited

 

[Guest Adarsh]

I read somewhere that Gaga and Hugh Jackman also had the same acting coach who passed away? 

[FarixGaga 15,546]

Fantastic news, thanks for sharing 

[VTV 12,842]

A wig has exited

[CannaeDrive 3,412]

Imagine having any doubt about L.Gaga acting skills 

[Mulholland 1,052]

32 minutes ago, Adarsh Soni said:

I read somewhere that Gaga and Hugh Jackman also had the same acting coach who passed away? 

Elizabeth Kemp died last year. (Gaga talked about it during one of the JWT shows, dedicated TEOG to her, and had an exchange on Twitter about her with Hugh Jackman.) Some news reported she was Gaga's coach for ASIB, but unclear if that was just speculation due to the timing? She also worked a lot with Bradley Cooper, so Gaga may have just known her from that/on the set.

[Guest Adarsh]

1 hour ago, Mulholland said:

Elizabeth Kemp died last year. (Gaga talked about it during one of the JWT shows, dedicated TEOG to her, and had an exchange on Twitter about her with Hugh Jackman.) Some news reported she was Gaga's coach for ASIB, but unclear if that was just speculation due to the timing? She also worked a lot with Bradley Cooper, so Gaga may have just known her from that/on the set.

Oh alright. Thanks sweetie. And may her soul rest in peace