Maestro Director Bradley Cooper Was Able To Shoot At Leonard Bernstein's Real-Life Home
Bradley Cooper has had a fascinating career, with comedic roles in some of the best and some of the biggest comedies of the past 20 years, as well as more dramatic roles. But it was really his move towards directing with "A Star Is Born" that showed Cooper had more to offer the film world, with a stunning debut that resulted in some of the catchiest songs of the past few years, a new karaoke staple, and arguably the best of the "A Star Is Born" remakes.
Now, for his next project, Cooper is aiming for the Oscar with a film that feels very much like an auteur flexing his unique vision — "Maestro." The upcoming film is about the late composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, and in order to tell the story, Cooper held a closed and controlled environment, while getting a very close look at Bernstein's life by shooting in the conductor's actual home.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Bernstein's daughter Jamie Bernstein talked about inviting Cooper to Leonard Bernstein's actual home in Fairfield, Connecticut for research — a visit that gave the director an idea. "He said, 'Oh, I could shoot here,'" Bernstein said. "From the very beginning, it was going to be okay with us if he really wanted to do that. And then, gosh, he really did want to do that."
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Jamie Bernstein praised Cooper's portrayal of the late composer, saying "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."
This is a role Cooper has been chasing for a while, with his obsession with conducting being what managed to convince Steven Spielberg to not just cast Cooper in his own take on the story, but let him take over directing and writing as well.
Leonard Bernstein was considered the first world-class American conductor, and was the first American-born conductor to direct a major symphony orchestra in the U.S. He also worked as a composer, writing music for films like "On The Town," "On The Waterfront," and "West Side Story." One of Bernstein's many achievements was conducting a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Berlin with to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall on Christmas 1989.
As for "Maestro," the film is written by Cooper and "Spotlight" screenwriter Josh Singer. The film stars Cooper, Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre, Sarah Silverman as Bernstein's sister Shirley, Maya Hawke as his daughter Jamie, and Matt Bomer as one of his lovers. "Maestro" opens in select theaters on November 22, 2023, before heading to Netflix on December 20, 2023.