The upcoming (fourth) big screen version of the classic Hollywood rags to riches tale, A Star is Born, is coming with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. The pair are on the cover of Entertainment Weekly‘s Fall Movie Preview issue, to which they spoke at length about the film and their careers.

Bradley is making his directorial debut with the drama, which doesn’t hit theaters until October 5. He had to deal with his share of naysayers before filming, recalling:

“I had a lot of people tell me, ‘Please don’t do this’ — people I respect and who care about me. I just knew this could be the end of everything if it doesn’t work. It’s like, ‘Who’s this guy making the fourth [version] of this movie? Shut up already.’ But I still could not deny what I felt deep down, and that’s why it was this movie. It sort of ignited something in me.”

Bradly, 43, has made no secret of how blown away he’s been with Gaga’s performance. Gaga, 32, shares the love with her director and co-star, saying her experience working on the film, “has changed me,” adding, “Watching Bradley work was phenomenal and then having him believe in me — it gave me more ammunition to believe in myself and I just feel so blessed to have had that experience.”

Gaga said she felt a kinship with her Star character, the initially insecure Ally, recalling the difficulties she had ascending the ladder to stardom. She revealed that when she wrote her first songs, “people were trying to take my songs and give them to other people.” She also went on to confess that she felt that,

“I was not the prettiest girl in the room. I was a little weird, and I liked being weird. I didn’t like to be sexual in a way that other pop stars or pop groups were. I was my own thing. It’s heartbreaking because you feel like, ‘Why am I not enough?’”

The movie has received some Oscar buzz already, and the film deeply affected Gaga after Bradley screened a cut for her and a few friends. She said,

“I just remember that from the very first frame, I just burst into tears. I literally cried watching the whole movie. I had to watch the film several times before I could watch it as an audience member, if that makes any sense?”

As for the pair’s on-screen chemistry, Bradley said of working with Gaga:

“I think the biggest thing I learned is that sky’s the limit if you find a companion artistically, and you have a project. There is no dreaming too big. What people can do together is so much more powerful than what they can do by themselves.”

I don’t know about you, but I am really excited to see this version of A Star is Born – and I’m not just saying that because eternally hunky Sam Elliott is in this. I’m feeling optimistic that Bradley and Gaga can give us a fresh, inspired take on a story that could quickly veer into cliche land. Guess we’ll have to wait until October to find out.

.@LadyGaga and Bradley Cooper are headlining our Fall Movie Preview! The megastars give us the scoop on reimagining @StarIsBornMovie, their fast friendship, and the day Barbra Streisand came to set: https://t.co/iXbbaY9ve2 🌟 #AStarIsBorn pic.twitter.com/I0NIvpuo0v

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 9, 2018

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Photos: Entertainment Weekly, A Star is Born promotional materials, Getty, WENN