Bradley Cooper Under Fire For Using Prosthetic Nose In Film ‘Maestro,’ Leonard Bernstein’s Family Comes To His Defense

Bradley Cooper is facing social media backlash over his large prosthetic nose in the new film Maestro due to arguments over Jewish representation. 

Netflix released the trailer for Maestro, which Cooper co-wrote with Josh Singer and stars in as the main character. When fans saw Cooper’s new nose it reignited an argument that began in May 2022 when Netflix shared stills of the movie. Critics called the film an example of “Jewface,” which is a term used to describe inauthentic or stereotypical representations of Jewish people. 

The movie focuses on the Jewish conductor Leonard Bernstein and his relationship with his wife Felicia Montealegre. It will premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the end of August and is set to be released on November 22 in theaters and on December 20 on Netflix. 

Bernstein’s children, Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Bernstein, came to Cooper’s defense on Wednesday releasing a statement on X, formerly Twitter. The family stated that they are “touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment” and that “it breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts.” They clarified that they are “perfectly fine” with Cooper using “makeup to amplify his resemblance” as it is “true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose.”

They continued to assert that they are “also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.” The children and their mother were all involved in the creation of the film.

“We could feel the profound respect and yes, the love that Bradley brought to his portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, our mother Felicia,” they said. “We feel so fortunate to have had this experience with Bradley.” 

Despite this statement, fans are still having mixed reactions about the prosthetic nose, one commenting, “Just looked up a picture of the real leonard bernstein…. the big antisemitic prosthetic nose on bradley cooper was definitely not necessary…”

Others took issue with Carey Mulligan playing Montealegre, who is from Costa Rica. “So am I going to be the one to ask why an English woman is portraying a Costa Rican woman?” a woman asked.