''Maestro'' is an upcoming American biographical drama film directed by Bradley Cooper and produced by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

, and Todd Phillips, as well as Cooper, from a screenplay he co-wrote with

Josh Singer Josh Singer (born 1972) is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known for writing '' The Fifth Estate'' (2013), ''Spotlight'' (2015), ''The Post'' (2017) and '' First Man'' (2018). He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenpl ...

. It is based on the life of

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, who worked as a conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. The film stars Cooper as Bernstein, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer,

Maya Hawke Maya Ray Thurman Hawke (born July 8, 1998) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. The daughter of actors Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, she began her career in modeling. She made her screen debut as Jo March in the 2017 BBC adaptation of '' ...

, and Sarah Silverman. ''Maestro'' is scheduled to be released in 2023, by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Premise

A biopic about the life of

, with a focus on his marriage to Felicia Montealegre.

Cast

* Bradley Cooper as

* Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre * Matt Bomer *

as Jamie Bernstein * Sarah Silverman as Shirley Bernstein * Michael Urie as

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

Gideon Glick Gideon Glick (born June 6, 1988) is an American actor. His Broadway work includes the role of Ernst in the musical '' Spring Awakening,'' Jimmy-6 in '' Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'', Jordan Berman in ''Significant Other,'' and most recently Di ...

as Tommy Cothran * Sam Nivola as Alexander Bernstein * Miriam Shor as Cynthia O'Neal

Production

Development

The project had been in development at

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, with

initially planning to direct the film. He would step down as director to work on ''

The Irishman ''The Irishman'' (subtitled onscreen as ''I Heard You Paint Houses'') is a 2019 American epic gangster film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book '' I Heard You Paint Hou ...

'', allowing Bradley Cooper to join the film in May 2018 as director and to star as Bernstein. Scorsese will produce alongside Todd Phillips and

. Spielberg was also initially considering directing the film, and had approached Cooper to star but offered the director position to Cooper after a screening of '' A Star Is Born''. In January 2020, the project was moved to

, with filming initially expected to begin in 2021.

Casting

In September 2020, the project was given the title ''Maestro'' with Carey Mulligan joining the cast. It was also announced that filming would begin in the spring of 2021. In October, Jeremy Strong joined the cast as

John Gruen John Jonas Gruen (born Jonas Grunberg; September 12, 1926 – July 12, 2016) was an American art critic, art historian, author, photographer, and composer.Mark Segal, "John Jonas Gruen", ''The East Hampton Star'', August 4, 2016 Early life and ...

. In March 2022, Matt Bomer joined the cast. Bomer would be confirmed in April, with

also announced as being cast. In June, Sarah Silverman was announced as playing Bernstein's sister Shirley. In February 2023, Michael Urie was announced to be appearing in the film as

. In April 2023, it was reported that Miriam Shor was a part of the cast.

Filming

The film was initially expect to begin filming on April 5, 2021 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, however it instead began in May 2022. Production occurred at

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...

between May 21 and 26, and in New York City. Filming also took place over three days at

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...

in England, between October 20 and 22.

Criticism

Cooper's use of a prosthetic nose to portray Bernstein has been criticized by some social media users as an anti-Semitic caricature. James Hirsh wrote in the Canadian Jewish News, “there's no reason to believe that the decision to wear a fake nose is a deliberately antisemitic act .. a number of Jews are involved in the production. And the prosthesis arguably helps with the resemblance," but acknowledged that Cooper is not Jewish and has not used prosthetics to portray other characters or real-life individuals such as Joseph Merrick or Chris Kyle. Others said a Jewish actor of equal fame such as Jake Gyllenhaal should have been cast in his place.

References

External links

* {{Leonard Bernstein Amblin Entertainment films American biographical drama films American films based on actual events Biographical films about musicians Drama films based on actual events Casting controversies in film Films about marriage Films directed by Bradley Cooper Films produced by Bradley Cooper Films produced by Todd Phillips Films produced by Martin Scorsese Films produced by Steven Spielberg Films set in the 20th century Films shot in Massachusetts Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New York City Upcoming English-language films Upcoming films Upcoming Netflix original films 2020s American films