maestroby and with Bradley Cooper, traces the love story between the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, played by Carey Mulligan … without forgetting Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who helped with the production.
Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan in the film “Maestro.” PHOTO PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
Leonard Bernstein
Conductor, musician and composer – he is, among other things, the author of the music for West Side Story – Leonard Bernstein was the most important conductor of his time. The man, who was born in 1918 and died in 1990, was so fascinated that his family “heard about a film about it.” [son] Father about fifteen years ago. Then everything changed seven or eight years ago when Bradley Cooper joined the project,” explained Jamie Bernstein, the composer’s daughter, during a conference at Lincoln Center last month.
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper put his heart and soul into “Maestro”. PHOTO PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
“I still remember watching the cartoons where Bugs Bunny leads an orchestra and imitates him. It’s even funnier since my daughter asked me for a conductor’s baton for Christmas this year,” said Bradley Cooper during a press conference dedicated to Maestro organized by the website Deadline Hollywood. Bradley Cooper was hired as director by Steven Spielberg and first met Leonard and Felicia Bernstein’s three children. The feature film focused on the couple’s love story. The biographical film addresses “all aspects of Lenny’s life, it is the truth based on love,” said Bradley Cooper, referring to the maestro’s bisexuality, which is clearly shown in the feature film.
Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan and Bradley Cooper in a scene from the feature film PHOTO PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
“I don’t think Leonard and Felicia’s children believed me when I told them the film would focus on their mother,” said Carey Mulligan. The actress traveled to Chile to prepare for her role. “Bradley involved me in 2018 by telling me that he only asked me for one thing: to give my best to this role. Felicia is fascinating. To understand her, I had to see where she came from and I traveled to Chile to meet her family, who told me extraordinary stories,” said Carey Mulligan.
Form
Bradley Cooper has redesigned himself for the needs of the film “Maestro”. PHOTO PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose, created by Kazu Hiro, sparked much discussion, but the controversy eventually died down on its own after Bernstein’s children intervened, saying their father would have approved of it. “We did some tests with Kazu. He came to us four years ago and I spent weekends at his house and tried noses for seven hours,” recalls the filmmaker.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin during the Orchester Métropolitain concert at Mount Royal in Montreal on August 2 MARIO BEAUREGARD/AGENCE QMI
“I became a consultant for Maestro after I met Bradley. He researched so much about Bernstein, talked to so many conductors for a year or two, and one day he came to the MET and something just clicked between us. When we worked together, Bradley sat in the middle of the orchestra while we played various pieces from Bernstein’s repertoire as well as Mahler and Debussy. Bradley was very curious, asked me a lot of questions and sometimes even filmed me,” said Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
“One of the most powerful scenes in the film is when Lenny walks through Central Park with David Oppenheim, who was once his lover. They don’t exchange a word, but we see Lenny wondering what would have happened if life had been different and he had lived with a man. Of course, as an openly gay conductor, I see how much things have changed in 50 or 60 years – yes, there is still a lot to do. And I’m happy to be able to be the conductor of the MET while married to a man.”
Maestro hits theaters in Montreal on December 8th and will be released on Netflix on December 20th.