Bradley Cooper‘s tour de force of a sophomore directorial effort “Maestro” crescendoes into theaters this fall just in time for Oscars season.
Cooper, who co-wrote, produced, and directed the decades-sweeping romance film, stars as famed musician and composer Leonard Bernstein, whose marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) is at the core of the feature.
The official synopsis reads: “Maestro” is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, “Maestro” is, at its core, an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.
In addition to Cooper and Mulligan, “Maestro” stars Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Josh Hamilton, Scott Ellis, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Alexa Swinton, and Miriam Shor.
Cooper co-wrote the film with “Spotlight” scribe Josh Singer. Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg produce, along with Cooper, Kristie Mackso Krieger, Fred Burner, and Amy Durning. Carla Raij, Bobby Wilhelm, Weston Middleton, Tracey Landon, and screenwriter Singer executive produce.
As an actor, Cooper underwent five hours of hair, makeup, and prosthetics to transform into Bernstein across decades onscreen. Makeup artist Kazu Hiro told Entertainment Weekly that Cooper was determined to only have the cast and crew see him in makeup as Bernstein “so he would appear as Lenny to set up the shoot and everything.”
Hiro said, “That also kind of made our call time two hours earlier than normal, so that was quite tough. My goal was and Bradley’s goal was to portray Lenny as authentic as possible. Lenny had a really iconic look that everybody knows. There’s so many pictures out there because he’s photogenic, too. [He was] such a great person and also inspired so many people, so we wanted to respect the look, too, on the inside.”
The film premiered at Venice and later screened at NYFF. IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio wrote in the review that “as a study of how the Bernsteins’ near-three-decade marriage endured Lenny’s gayness and genius, ‘Maestro’ succeeds off the chemistry between Mulligan and Cooper.”
“Maestro” premieres in theaters November 22 and will stream on Netflix December 20. Check out the trailer below.
