Bradley Cooper Talks Maestro, Friendship with Leonard Bernstein’s Kids

Before scoring three Oscar nominations this year for Netflix’s Maestro — including best picture, actor and original screenplay (the latter shared with Josh Singer) — Bradley Cooper had already garnered an impressive nine Academy Award nominations as an actor (Silver Linings Playbook in 2013, American Hustle in 2014, American Sniper in 2015 and A Star Is Born in 2019), a producer (American Sniper, A Star Is Born, Joker in 2020 and Nightmare Alley in 2022) and a writer (A Star Is Born). His latest crop of nods makes him a 12-time nominee across those three categories and one of the most successful multi-hyphenates working in film today.

So it’s fitting that the star would take on Leonard Bernstein as the subject for his sophomore feature, which features Cooper as the enigmatic composer and conductor — with co-star and fellow Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan playing Bernstein’s wife, Felicia Montealegre. Rather than your typical biopic, however, Maestro looks at the marriage of Bernstein and Montealegre as it slowly peels back the complex layers of their relationship to understand the individuals who were seemingly meant for one another.

Cooper spoke with THR about the film (which also earned Oscar noms for best cinematography, sound and makeup and hairstyling) and how he realized, in hindsight, that he had more in common with Bernstein than he initially expected.

Beyond starring in and directing Maestro, you also co-wrote and produced the film. Did you ever find yourself separating into those different roles?

Not entirely — it at all feels like one thing to me. Maybe it’s because I make my bed every morning. I’m definitely somebody who plans and likes to make plans, so maybe I’m built for being a producer. And really, I learned a lot from Kristie Macosko Krieger, an incredible producer on this movie, along with Fred [Berner] and Amy [Durning], too. But Kristie was really the one in the trenches every day. It’s so hard to make a movie. And I just love the process of an idea evolving into a finished product. 

When you’re acting as both a producer and a director, do you have to make a lot of decisions as the producer first, director second?

Oh, yeah. All the time. As the director, you decide early on things that you will die on the sword for, because you know that they are necessary for the film. One example is when we were looking at locations, and we came across that Fairfield, Conn., house that they lived in. It was so concretized in my mind as the director that that was where we needed to film. That brought with its challenges, but as the producer, knowing that the director really felt that it was essential, we did everything we could to make that work.

I ask that question because in the film, Bernstein wrestles with his professional identity — if he’s a composer or a conductor. Was part of your interest in this project that you’d also be playing a multi-hyphenate who gives his talents to multiple pursuits?

You know, it’s interesting — only in retrospect have I [thought that], and I would never be so bold as to actually think that I have anything in common with him. But you’re not wrong. There was a sort of meta element to doing this film the way it was being done, and the character and what he was doing. It served the actor, that’s for sure, because the day was bringing so many different elements and that he was also living his life with so many different elements.

So much of the film relies on the chemistry you have with Carey Mulligan. How did the two of you find your rhythm with one another, particularly since there’s so much overlapping dialogue between Bernstein and Felicia — it seems like they are just so excited to be around and talking with one another.

That really came from primary source material. They were audio tapes of them, for example, regaling an audience about their wedding night, and it was just this wonderful collage of voices melodically that were musical. And that was the beginning for Josh and me, hearing the dialogue in our mind and then writing to that. Then, once Felicia really came into existence and Lenny was in existence, we were able to live in that space melodically together. And that’s really Carey — she’s just such an incredible actor that I was able to just listen and respond, quite honestly. And then because of that, we were able to really explore what it was like to be around the two of them.

I’ve interviewed makeup designer Kazu Hiro, and he told a story about the two of you FaceTiming with Bernstein’s kids as you were perfecting the prosthetics — he said they became very emotional. Were there any challenges to your working relationship with them, and how did that relationship evolve throughout production?

The relationship started the first time we met, when I was pitching them to give us the rights to the music, so that we can make the movie. I think the reason why we became so close is because they’re very much the children of their parents. They’re no BS, they’re very highly intelligent. They don’t suffer fools, and they’ll tell you exactly what they think. You’re able to cut to the truth very quickly. And “challenging” is a word that you want as in a collaborative process. It was wonderfully challenging, because I knew that they were really telling me what they really thought. It would behoove me to include them as much as I could, and that they were willing participants was a benefit to the film. And then the consequence of that is… I mean, I love the movie. I’m so proud of the film. And I love that we have this relic of our experience. But more than anything, it was what we all lived through. It’s wonderful that we have this memento, but it really was a life experience, just the process. And that’s the real gift. And that I was able to make friends for life with these three beautiful people.

Did they ever give you a note that surprised you? 

There were so many along the way — very specific things like how they never said “mom.” I was embarrassed that we wrote that in the script, because it was always “mommy.” Early on, they understood that we were not chronicling their parents. We were telling a story with these characters, and they really understand story and the creative process. It was really just about having a collaborative conversation. But at no time did I ever feel like they didn’t want to be on board — for whatever reason, they really trusted us. And because we were all on the same page to try and find the best way to explore this story, that’s really how it happened all the way to the end. I was just so happy when I showed them the final movie that they were pleased. 

They could have been your toughest critics. 

No question. 

Obviously this is not a traditional biopic. How much of his career did you feel like you needed to explain in the film, particularly for audience members who may not be as familiar with Bernstein? 

You know, I’m not sure how to answer that, because my my hope was that we did create a human character that you did get to know, so that by the time you’re watching this man conduct — the real Leonard Bernstein in the end credits — that you feel like you know him. Not that he’s sort of this mythical figure, but instead he’s very humanized. I felt that we can best serve his contribution musically by having the movie be scored to the diversified nature of his compositions. My hope is that even people that love Leonard Bernstein may hear pieces of music that they weren’t aware of in this film, because we used so much of all of the very types that he composed throughout his life — that when you listen to the soundtrack, you’re digesting the amount of music this man made.