Leonard Bernstein’s children defend Bradley Cooper following prosthetic nose backlash
Leonard Bernstein’s children believe the composer would’ve been fine with the nose.
Leonard Bernstein’s children are “perfectly fine” with Bradley Cooper wearing a prosthetic nose to play the music legend in Maestro.
The Hangover actor came under fire earlier this week after the Maestro trailer was released, showing him wearing a large prosthetic nose to play the composer and conductor.
Several social media users claimed the fake nose was an exaggeration of Bernstein’s, while some accused Cooper of perpetuating Jewish stereotypes.
On Wednesday, Bernstein’s children Jamie, Alexander and Nina posted a lengthy statement on their late father’s Twitter/X account to voice their support for the film’s director and lead actor.
“Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father,” they began. “We 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.”
Addressing the backlash, they continued, “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 our dad would have been fine with it as well.”
The trio insisted the complaints against Cooper were simply “a disingenuous attempt” to bring a successful person down a peg or two, a situation their late father, who died in 1990, experienced “all too often”.
They concluded, “At all times during the making of this film, we could feel the profound respect and yes, the love that Bradley brought to his portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, our mother Felicia. We feel so fortunate to have had this experience with Bradley, and we can’t wait for the world to see his creation.”
Maestro, co-starring Carey Mulligan as Felicia, will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival in September.
It will be released in select cinemas on 22 November before streaming on Netflix on 20 December.
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