Watch: Streisand Slams Gaga's 'A Star is Born' as too 'Alike' to Her Own

Iconic singer Barbra Streisand, the lead of the 1976 version of "A Star is Born," took aim the 2018 iteration of the film starring Lady Gaga and Bradly Cooper (who served as director), saying it could have been more diverse and it lacked "originality."

Deadline reports that Streisand, 79, made the remarks during an video link appearance on Australian talk show "The Sunday Project," where she was touting her new album, a collection of vault songs titled "Release Me 2."

Saying she "thought it was the wrong idea," Streisand explained her dissatisfaction with the 2018 version of the film.

"Look, it was a big success. I can't argue with success. But I don't care so much about success as I do originality," she said.

Streisand pointed to early reports that Beyoncé would star, possibly opposite with Will Smith, saying that such casting would "really make it different again," and recalling she had looked forward to a version with "a different kind of music, integrated actors. I thought that was a great idea."

But, as often happens, the project went through several transitions, with various stars and directors attached before the remake gelled around writer-director-star Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.

Streisand said she was "surprised when I saw how alike it was to the version that I did in 1976," opposite Kris Kristofferson.

The film had been made twice before, starting with the original film in 1937 with a David O. Selznick-produced drama starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, in which Gaynor plays a starlet whose rise in Hollywood comes about as the career of her lover, played by March, is in decline. A 1954 George Cukor directed a version starring Judy Garland and James Mason, and again concerned film actors.

"Judy Garland was so great in it, I thought, 'Oh my God, how am I going to do this?'" Streisand said of her performance.

"I have to change it," Streisand recalled thinking. "I'll become a guitar-playing singer-songwriter, and Kris Kristofferson is already a singer-songwriter, and we'll change the story a bit."

Cooper and Gaga's remake retained the music business, as opposed to film industry, angle.

The Mercury News took note that Streisand's critique did not mention "that her 1976 version of the classic show-business story was widely panned as 'a massively misguided vanity project' and one of the worst movies she ever made."

Wikipedia recalls that criticisms for the 1976 version likewise included a "lack of originality," though the film became a box-office success and the year's second-highest earner, behind "Rocky."

The 1976 version was nominated for four Oscars and won for Best Original Song for "Evergreen," which was written by Streisand and Paul Williams and performed by Streisand. The 2018 remake garnered twice as many Oscar nominations, with Gaga's "Shallow" winning for Best Original Song.

Watch Streisand's appearance on "The Sunday Project," below.