Bradley Cooper is unrecognisable as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, fans predict an Oscar

Bradley Cooper’s first look as legendary composer Leonard Bernstein will surely leave his fans in shock. The actor sported stark white hair and wrinkles as he began filming for Maestro in New York. Bradley will be directing and starring in the Netflix movie, which is based on the life of Broadway composer Leonard Bernstein. The film also stars Maya Hawke, Carey Mulligan and Matt Bomer. Also read: Video shows Will Smith being consoled by Denzel Washington, Bradley Cooper after Chris Rock slap. Watch

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will chronicle the complex love story between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Cohn Montealegre (Carey). 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 Leonard grappled with his own sexual orientation.

As Bradley’s first look from Maestro was revealed, his fans shared their reaction to the pictures on Twitter. A fan said, “The makeup on Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro is insane.” Another wrote, “Ok I usually don’t care for Bradley Cooper as much but this. This is a Bradley Cooper film I would watch.” One more said, “Damn Bradley Cooper looks unrecognizable in Maestro.” A tweet also read, “These makeup did a helluva job. Bradley Cooper doesn’t look like Bradley Cooper at all.” A Twitter user also wrote, “I hope Bradley Cooper wins a best actor Oscar one day.” One more fan said, “Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein feels like it could finally win him the Oscar. Prosthetics check. Real Hollywood legend. Check.”

Maya, best known for starring in Netflix series Stranger Things and Quentin Tarantino’s movie Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, will play the role of Leonard Bernstein’s daughter Jamie. Bradley has also penned the film’s script in collaboration with Josh Singer, the Academy Award-winning writer of Spotlight.

The film will be produced by Bradley as well as veteran filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, alongside Kristie Macosko Krieger, Fred Berner and Amy Durning.  

Bradley has been more interested in writing and filmmaking lately. Maestro was to be directed by Steven Spielberg but eventually went to him. Talking about how he happened to direct Maestro, Bradley told Variety earlier this year, “I (told Steven Spielberg), ‘I always felt like I could play a conductor, but may I research the material and see if I can write it and direct it? Would you let me do that?’ Steven has a lot of interests — he’ll just choose one thing and all of the other things will be on hold. I think he knew he wasn’t going to make that movie for a while. He was kind enough to hand it off to me, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years.”

(With PTI inputs)