World premiere of “Maestro”
Bernstein’s daughter enthusiastic about Cooper’s commitment
09/02/2023, 10:05 p.m
Bradley Cooper stars as legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in Bradley Cooper’s new film. His daughter is now enthusiastic about the film at the world premiere in Venice.
The daughter of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, Jamie Bernstein, has been blown away by Hollywood star Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of her father on screen. “We never thought that Bradley would go to such lengths to give the character an authentic form,” said the 70-year-old at the world premiere of the strip at the Venice Film Festival. In reality, the Leonard Bernstein biography “Maestro” is “about a love story, that of our parents”. Carey Mulligan plays Bernstein’s wife, Felicia Montealegre (1922-1978).
Cooper himself, who also directed “Maestro”, stayed away from the festival in the Italian lagoon city because of the ongoing actors’ strike in Hollywood. He is considered one of the top contenders for an award at the prestigious Venice festival.
A debate had previously flared up in the United States as to whether Cooper’s decision to wear a prosthetic nose in the role of Bernstein was “Jewfacing” and thus serving anti-Jewish stereotypes. However, Bernstein’s family got behind the actor. The late composer’s children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein, said in mid-August that they were sure their father would have agreed as they did.
Composer of “West Side Story”
Cooper, Mulligan and the film’s other actors didn’t make it to Venice because of the Hollywood strike. The festival quoted Cooper in a statement: “We listened to a lot of opera and classical music albums at my house,” it said. “I spent hours imagining how I would conduct an orchestra with all the effort of an eight-year-old. Most notably, we kept listening to a recording of Leonard Bernstein.”
Among other things, Bernstein composed the musical “West Side Story”, but also three classical symphonies. Bernstein was a world star who was in demand as a conductor everywhere and often appeared in Germany. He died in New York in 1990 at the age of 72.