Since Netflix released its first look at “Maestro” last month, anticipation for Bradley Cooper’s follow-up to 2016’s “A Star Is Born” went through the roof. And that hype is well-deserved. Not only does Cooper look totally unrecognizable as famous composer Leonard Bernstein in the new images from the film, but it also indicates that Cooper is deadly serious about being taken seriously as a director. More power to him: he deserved a Best Director nod at the Oscars for “A Star Is Born.”
Maybe that snub helped light a fire in Cooper to make “Maestro” a masterwork. In recent comments he made on the “Smartless” podcast (listen below), hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, Cooper’s inability to work with big names in the industry also fuels his ambitions as a director. Looking back on where his career was seven years ago, Cooper said, “I [was] 40, and all of the directors I admire, they don’t really want me to do their movies so, what am I going to do? And all I want to do is be at the center of the creative experience, [so] I’m going to have to f*cking do it myself.” So, Cooper’s missed a lot of chances to work with the directors he wanted to and got so frustrated with the situation he took matters into his own hands and made “A Star Is Born.” And now, he’s a promising director in his own right.
Cooper said, “Look, I’ve had an incredible opportunity to work with great directors. You know, like the Coen Brothers, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, the list goes on and on, I just couldn’t, you know, be in any of those guys’ movies, Kathryn Bigelow.” That’s a list of heavy-hitters right there. “So, I was 40,” Cooper continued, “I had just spent a decade on the road, basically, and had two or three experiences where it took a pound of flesh out of me…and it felt like I wasn’t working with people I really want to work with, to grow and get better. And I was like, I’m 40, I want a kid, I want to slow down, and I want to do stuff that I really care about. That’s what started [my turn to directing].”
And for Cooper, “Maestro” is most certainly a passion project. In describing the movie, he said it’s “a movie about marriage, a movie about family. That’s it.” But “nuclear family dramas” are Hollywood’s bread and butter, Bradley, so why make another? Cooper continued, “And why is it nuclear? Because it’s this f*cking music is nuclear. I had a secret weapon in “A Star Is Born” with Lady Gaga. The secret weapon I have in this movie is f*cking Leonard Bernstein and Gustav Mahler.” So, Bernstein and Mahler’s music will raise this family drama to more transcendent heights than audiences usually expect.
When Arnett asked Cooper when “Maestro” would be ready for release, Cooper replied, “It won’t come out until the fall of ’23, I think.” After that, the hosts asked about the movie’s ongoing shooting schedule and whether it was being shot entirely in New York. “No,” said Cooper, “We started shooting in Massachusetts, then New York, then East Hampton, then we take a break, and then we go to Italy for three weeks, and then we end in London.” That makes “Maestro” quite the globe-trotting production.
But Cooper isn’t stopping there, as he wants the movie to have scenes as expansive as Bernstein’s musical repertoire. “The last two days are Mahler’s Resurrection at Ealy Cathedral,” said Cooper, “it’s one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world, live, conducting it with a 180-chorus, 74-piece orchestra, we just cast these incredible singers, it’s going to be… I can’t even. Who knows if it’ll work because we’re going to do it live, but it either works, or it doesn’t.” Well, then. “Maestro” sounds like it will be quite an ambitious feat to pull off, but Cooper sounds confident about his process. Honestly, we can’t wait to see what he does with the movie.
Here’s the official synopsis for “Maestro,” courtesy of Netflix:
“Maestro,” tells of the complex love story between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Cohn Montealegre. It’s a story that spanned more than 30 years, from the time they met in 1946 at a party and continuing through two on-off engagements, a 25-year marriage, three children (Jamie, Alexander, and Nina), and as Bernstein grappled with his own sexual orientation.
The upcoming film also stars Carey Mulligan as Montealegre, as well as Maya Hawke and Matt Bomber in undisclosed roles. Listen to the entire conversation below, but pace your anticipation for “Maestro” because it sounds like you will be waiting for over a year.