“I remember that day very unfondly, in a way,” said Gaga of filming the song “Never Love Again.” Her close friend and the longtime managing director of Haus of Gaga, Sonja Durham, was battling stage four breast, brain, and lung cancer and died the day of Gaga’s final performance of the movie. “I actually left the set,” she said.
Cooper said the cast and crew were prepared not to shoot that day, but Gaga talked to Sonja’s husband, who encouraged her to sing because it was what Sonja would have wanted her to do. In the featurette, Gaga is captured explaining to the audience of extras why the scene was difficult for her and asks for help: “If you could help me today, and really think of not just [Sonja] but how it feels to lose someone, think of her husband maybe, for me. I think that energy will penetrate this room. I think she’ll hear it.”