Following his cameo in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and vocally reprising Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Bradley Cooper will be in cinematic territory before the year is over for one last 2023 movie release: Maestro, which he directed, co-wrote and led. The first Maestro trailer showed off the actor’s completely-changed look as Leonard Bernstein and made it clear he is once again coming for the Oscars following his work on A Star is Born. However, the trailer has also reignited the “Jewface” accusations directed at Cooper because he’s wearing a fake nose while playing the composter, and this prompted Bernstein’s children to release a statement.
This “Jewface” controversy first emerged back in May 2023 when Maestro set photos emerged showing Cooper in his prosthetic nose, and the trailer spawned a new wave of complaints concerning the actor being made to look like a Jewish stereotype. However, in a statement to Insider, Bernstein’s children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina, expressed their support for Cooper altering his appearance in this way, and they believe their father would have felt the same way. In their words:
It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we're perfectly fine with that. We're also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well. Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch -- a practice we observed all too often perpetrated on our own father.
Leonard Bernstein’s children also said that Bradley Cooper included them “along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film” about their father, and that they were “touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment, his loving embrace of our father's music, and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration.” The statement caps off with Jamie, Alexander and Nina saying that they felt the profound respect” and “love” that Cooper had for telling the story about Bernstein and his wife/their mother, Felicia, who’s played in Maestro by Carey Mulligan, and they “can't wait for the world to see his creation.”
With just a few weeks to go until Maestro’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and three months until it starts reaching the public, it’s doubtful this is the last we’ll hear of the movie’s “Jewface” controversy. Still. Bernstein’s children have made it clear that they didn’t have any issue with Cooper donning the fake nose in order to look more like the man whose many accomplishments included various symphonies, being the music director of the New York Philharmonic and writing the music for West Side Story. Cooper and Mulligan’s castmates in Maestro include Matt Bomer, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie, Gideon Click, Mirian Shor, Maya Hawke, Sam Nivola and Alexa Swinton, with the latter three playing Jamie, Alexander and Nina, respectively.
Venice attendees will be able to catch Maestro’s world premiere on September 2, and the limited theatrical release will kick off on November 22. After that, Netflix subscribers will be able to stream it starting December 20. Learn what else the platform is delivering on the film side of things for the rest of the year with our Netflix movie schedule.
