It seems as though Bradley Cooper has found his rhythm when it comes to selecting his directorial choices, because the A Star Is Born helmer has decided to remain in the world of music for his next film by inheriting Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro from Steven Spielberg.
Cooper was speaking to Mahershala Ali during Variety’s Actors on Actors feature when he told the Blade star that he had spoken to Spielberg, who would have been directing him in the biopic, about whether he could write and direct Maestro instead.
“He [Spielberg] had this biopic idea and was talking to me about potentially acting in it,” said Cooper. “But I had just been working on A Star Is Born. And I said, “Listen, all I want to do is write and direct movies. 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, and we start shooting in May.”
Cooper’s passion for the project is clear, also telling Ali that he had “wanted to be a conductor since I was a kid. I was obsessed with it, asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. Listening to music, falling in love with it and being able to really know every single moment of a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s Opus 35 in D major, this violin concerto. I could do it as if I know everything about it without really being able to speak the language, obviously.”
Maestro will cover 30 years in the life of the legendary conductor, largely telling the complex story of the marriage between Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, who will be played by Carey Mulligan. Succession star Jeremy Strong will also star as American art critic John Gruen.
Produced by Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Cooper, and his Joint Effort producing partner Todd Phillips, Maestro is set for a theatrical release before debuting on streaming service Netflix.
So it seems that come Oscars 2024, instead of a sexually charged duo with Lady Gaga, we can expect Bradley Cooper to be conducting the walk-off music during his own acceptance speech. Let us know what you think of Cooper directing Maestro by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Originally published January 27, 2022. Updated January 26, 2022.
