Leonard Bernstein’s children have shared their the moment they first saw Bradley Cooper portraying their father in his controversial new film.
Cooper stars in Maestro, a forthcoming biopic about the life of the legendary musical theatre composer. When the trailer was first released in August, Cooper was criticised for wearing a prosthetic nose to portray the famous Jewish composer.
However, the actor was defended by Bernstein’s own kids, Jamie, Alexander and Nina, who said that their father would have been “fine” with Cooper wearing a prosthetic to emulate his “nice, big nose”.
Speaking to Variety following the film’s premiere at the New York Film Festival on Monday (2 October), the Bernstein children further praised Cooper’s “spot-on” portrayal of the West Side Story composer.
Nina said: “I had a FaceTime call come in, and I didn’t recognise the number. But I chanced it, and it was my father as an old man!
“Obviously, that was not my father as an old man, it was Bradley. I could not stop laughing. He had the cigarette and the glasses, it was so spot on.”
On watching the film, Jamie said: “It took our breath away, it made us gasp. In some pictures, we could tell a little bit that it was Bradley, but there were certain photographs where we would go, ‘Oh my God!’ It was so amazingly perfect.”
Bradley Cooper in ‘Maestro'— (Jason McDonald/Netflix)
Cooper directed Maestro, which also stars Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman and Michael Urie.
Upon the trailer’s release, some film fans claimed that Cooper donning the fake nose to look like the renowned musician was “fuelling antisemitic stereotypes” and an example of “Jewface”.
British actor Tracy-Ann Oberman, who is Jewish, tweeted: “If [Cooper] needs to wear a prosthetic nose then that is, to me and many others, the equivalent of Black-Face or Yellow-Face. If Bradley Cooper can’t do it through the power or acting alone then don’t cast him – get a Jewish Actor.”
The real-life Leonard Bernstein— (Getty)
Binyomin Gilbert, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “We live in a world that is more sensitive to the racial portrayal of characters on the screen and which actors play them… Therefore it is astonishing that nobody thought twice about sticking a big nose on a non-Jewish actor playing a Jew.”
In response to the backlash, the Bernstein children released a statement reading: “Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father… 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,” they wrote. “Bradley chose to use make-up 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.”
Maestro is released in select UK cinemas on 24 November. It arrives on Netflix on 20 December.
