BRADLEY COOPER TRANSFORMS INTO LEONARD BERNSTEIN FOR NETFLIX’S MAESTRO

Set photos from the currently-in-production biopic Maestro indicate that actor-director Bradley Cooper has Oscar in his sights, with the star donning extensive make-up and morphing into the great Broadway composer Leonard Bernstein for the Netflix project.

The prestige pic, which also stars Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre, is Cooper’s follow-up to his 2018 critical and commercial hit, A Star is Born. As reported in Variety, the actor was confirmed for the part when it was to be directed by Steven Spielberg.

“I [told Spielberg], ‘May I research the material and see if I can write it and direct it? Would you let me do that?’” Cooper revealed during an episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, earlier this year. “Steven has a lot of interests — he’ll just choose one thing and all of the other things will be on hold. I think he knew he wasn’t going to make that movie for a while. He was kind enough to hand it off to me, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years.”

Copper confessed his long-standing love for the skill that was a key component of Bernstein’s immense talent. “I've wanted to be a conductor since I was a kid. I was obsessed with it, asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. Listening to music, falling in love with it and being able to really know every single moment of a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s ‘Opus 35’ in D major. I could do it as if I knew everything about it without really being able to speak the language.”

Although plot details have not been forthcoming, IMDb provides the following synopsis: “Maestro will tell the complex love story of Leonard and Felicia, a story that spans over 30 years - from the time they met in 1946 at a party and continuing through two engagements, a 25 year marriage, and three children: Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Bernstein Simmons.” Stranger Things star Maya Hawke and Magic Mike player Matt Bomer are confirmed as part of Cooper’s ensemble.

MAESTRO is slated to hit theatres and premiere on Netflix in mid-2023.