‘Maestro’ Reveals New Pictures Ahead of Venice Film Festival Debut; Leonard Bernstein’s Family Fully Endorse Bradley Cooper’s Take
(L-R) Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in Cooper’s Maestro. Photo by Jason McDonald via Vanity Fair, courtesy of Netflix.
In a world filled with absurd “controversies” on social media (i.e., people complaining about stuff just because they feel the need to raise their voices), the upcoming film Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s directorial follow-up to A Star Is Born, seemed to win the Big Prize. After Netflix revealed the first teaser trailer, people took to social media to complain about Bradley Cooper’s nose prosthetics being offensive towards the Jewish community — something that Netflix was probably ready for, as the very next day they unleashed a signed statement by Bernstein’s three children defending Cooper and his decision to wear the fake nose.
The film will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this Saturday, September 2, and to celebrate that, Vanity Fair has released seven new pictures from the film in a long piece about the making of the film, which is mostly focused on one theme: how Bradley Cooper’s take on Leonard Bernstein’s life not only felt right, but it was exactly what the musician’s children were dreaming for. And that came after Martin Scorsese passed on the project after being attached for years, and Steven Spielberg (the Jew Of All Jews in Hollywood) hand-picked Cooper to star in the film — eventually, he moved on to make another Bernstein-related project, his much-beloved West Side Story remake, leaving Cooper with the full reins of Maestro.
(L-R) Steven Spielberg and Bradley Cooper on the set of Cooper’s Maestro. Photo by Jason McDonald via Vanity Fair, courtesy of Netflix.
Cooper’s take on the material was not to make a biopic about Leonard Bernstein, but to tell a love story. One focused on his marriage with Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) as much as his love for music. Jamie Bernstein (who is played in the film by Maya Hawke) told Vanity Fair the following:
“Bradley arrived at this concept that was really not a biopic anymore at all. It was something else entirely of its own devising—its own creature, really.
It became a portrait of a marriage, it was a love story about our parents, and of course, what could be more personal for us?” says Jamie, speaking in depth about the film for the first time. “He had found a way into the story of our dad that wasn’t just about his career and his fame and all of that. It was instead something very personal, very intimate, really about who he was as a human being.”
She also insisted that Cooper kept all three siblings in the loop after he got the rights and started making the picture, which he really didn’t have to do:
“He asked everything. It could have gone some other way. Once he had the rights to make this film, it was his movie to make, and he didn’t have to consult with us particularly unless he felt like it.
He really wanted to kind of get under the skin of who Leonard Bernstein was, who Felicia Montealegre was, and who we were as a family.”
Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. Photo by Jason McDonald via Vanity Fair, courtesy of Netflix.
Cooper started working with two-time Oscar winner Kazu Hiro on the makeup and prosthetics to physically transform himself into Leonard Bernstein; as Jamie Bernstein told Vanity Fair, he would be constantly sending the composer’s children pictures of the latest updates, which left them open-mouthed. But it went beyond that, because they soon realized that the resemblance was not only physical:
“His energy was so similar to our dad’s, and his way of being in the world and relating to people reminded us more and more of our dad, and we began to see how right he was for the role in ways that wouldn’t even have occurred to us at first.”
She also had praises for Carey Mulligan and her portrayal of their complex mother:
“We didn’t know what to expect because our mother was such a complex and subtle person, and she had so many idiosyncrasies. She was also a very private person, so we didn’t know whether anyone would be capable of conveying her essence. And it’s just the damnest thing, how Carey really did that.”
Maestro will debut at the Venice Film Festival on September 2, and later will play at the New York Film Festival. It will open in select theaters on November 22 before going to Netflix on December 20.
Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Cooper’s Maestro. Photo by Jason McDonald via Vanity Fair, courtesy of Netflix.
Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. Photo by Jason McDonald via Vanity Fair, courtesy of Netflix.
Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Cooper’s Maestro. Photo by Jason McDonald via Vanity Fair, courtesy of Netflix.
(L-R) Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre and Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Cooper’s Maestro. Photo by Jason McDonald via Vanity Fair, courtesy of Netflix.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
