Legendary composer Leonard Bernstein found himself in the midst of one of high society’s most famous racial controversies of the 20th century when he held a fundraiser in support of the Black Panthers at his Manhattan penthouse in January 1970.
But Bradley Cooper, director and star of Netflix’s upcoming Amber biopic Maestro, has chosen not to show the infamous party set to raise money for the Panther 21 – the 21 members of the group who have been jailed and charged with conspiracy to commit crimes Killing police officers and plotting bomb plot are charged by New York City.
The aftermath of the party, held at Bernstein’s Upper East Side duplex, was incendiary, with The New Yorker magazine calling the moment the “most infamous episode” of Bernstein’s career and author Tom Wolfe’s account of the party the phrase popularized. radically chic.”
A source who saw an early screener of the film told : “The party came to define Leonard Bernstein in public and yet Bradley Cooper avoids it entirely.”
In January 1970, Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia threw a party in support of the Black Panthers, which has been described as the “most infamous episode” of his career. but the “defining” moment is left out in his forthcoming biopic. The Bernsteins are pictured in their Park Avenue penthouse with Don Cox, Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party
Bradley Cooper is directing and starring in Maestro, a biopic about legendary composer Leonard Bernstein. Cooper is pictured in prosthetics on set
Cooper has controversially chosen not to show the infamous fundraiser to raise money for the “Panther 21” — the 21 Black Panther members who are jailed and charged with conspiracy to kill police officers and bomb the New York City. Members of the Black Panther Party are pictured outside New York County Criminal Court in 1969
The Panther 21 were eventually all acquitted of charges of planning bombing and gun attacks on NYPD precincts in the Bronx and Manhattan and the office of the Queens Board of Education. The 1971 trial collapsed after it was revealed that police infiltrators played a key role in organizing the campaign.
One of the most famous American composers and conductors of the 20th century, Bernstein was musical director of the New York Philharmonic and composed the Broadway musicals West Side Story, On the Town and Candide. He died in 1990 at the age of 72.
Maestro, produced by Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, is Cooper’s follow-up to his 2018 hit A Star is Born.
It will be released in the fall but had an early test screening at New York’s Paris Theater last week.
The source who attended the early screening said, “While Bernstein’s left-wing politics has drawn suspicion from the FBI and the political establishment, Cooper doesn’t address her at all in the film.”
Cooper (left) completely transformed into composer Bernstein for the biopic Maestro
The Black Panthers party isn’t the only thing missing from Maestro, the source revealed.
Emmy-winning Succession star Jeremy Strong, who was widely reported to play the role of Bernstein biographer John Gruen in “Maestro,” does not appear in the finished film.
‘Apparently Bradley Cooper and [co-writer] Josh Singer decided to remove the character from the script entirely so that Jeremy Strong never did any scenes,” the source said.
“It was a bold decision by Bradley not to ultimately take on the role for Jeremy. He’s still listed in the film on Wikipedia and other sites, but he’s not actually in it.
Maestro chronicles the tumultuous marriage of Leonard Bernstein to his wife Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan, from their first meeting at a party in 1946 to their death of lung cancer in 1978.
Emmy-winning Succession star Jeremy Strong, who was widely reported to be starring in Maestro as Bernstein’s biographer John Gruen (right), does not appear in the finished film
Maestro faced backlash for casting English actress Carey Mulligan to play Bernstein’s Chilean-American wife, Felicia Montealegre
Supporting the casting, Bernstein’s children released a statement that read, “We are absolutely thrilled that Carey Mulligan will be playing our mother in Maestro.” Leonard and Felicia are pictured in 1959
The film also faced backlash from the Latinx community as English actress Mulligan played a Chilean-American actress.
Felicia and Leonard Bernstein’s children Jamie, Alexander and Nina supported the casting, with Jamie, 70, releasing a statement that read: “We are absolutely thrilled that Carey Mulligan will be playing our mother in Maestro.
“Carey is sure to capture Felicia’s unique combination of wit, warmth, elegant beauty and deep emotion.”
Maestro does not shy away from depicting Bernstein’s multiple affairs with men, including clarinetist David Oppenheim, played by Matt Bomer, and musician Tom Cothran.
However, the film omits any mention of Bernstein’s decades-long relationship with Japanese insurance clerk Kunihiko Hashimoto, whose intimate letters with Bernstein were included in the 2019 book Dearest Lenny: Letters from Japan and the Making of the World Maestro.
Maestro also features a scene of Bernstein drinking cocaine at a decadent 1970s party.
Demonstrators are seen in New York City in 1970. The aftermath of the party, which took place at Bernstein’s Manhattan duplex, was incendiary, with The New Yorker magazine calling the moment the “most infamous episode” of Bernstein’s career
The film chronicles Bernstein’s meteoric musical rise and his early marriage to Felicia in the 1940s and 1950s. Cooper can be seen on the set in New York City
In addition to his own music, the film features the composer dancing and singing along to Tears for Fears’ 1985 pop song Shout.
The biopic was filmed in Los Angeles, New York and at Ely Cathedral in England.
The film is produced in black and white as it depicts Bernstein’s meteoric musical rise and early marriage to Felicia in the 1940s and 1950s, and then changes to color for the final decades of his life.
Cooper previously opened up about Maestro being his passion project in an interview with Mahershala Ali for Variety’s Actors on Actors series.
“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a conductor,” Cooper said. “I was obsessed with [I] asked Santa for a baton when I was eight.’