Having seen many of the big Oscar-bait films and potential “Best Actor” performances, I really do believe that the Best Actor race will come down between Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) and Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer). While Leo DiCaprio was good enough to get an Oscar nom for Killers of the Flower Moon, he wasn’t good enough to be a real contender this year. There are other men in the mix – hopefully Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction – but I think we can safely say that Bradley Cooper is the dude who wants it the most. He wants to be nominated for Maestro and he wants to win. He’s doing everything he can to get nominated, to put himself in the Oscar conversation. Well, everything but turn in an Oscar-worthy performance in a good film. All he’s got is a hilariously offensive fake nose and claims that he spent years learning how to conduct an orchestra just like Leonard Bernstein:
Much of the buzz around Bradley Cooper‘s “Maestro” so far has revolved around his shocking physical transformation into famed conductor Leonard Bernstein, but the actor-director-writer’s prep for the role might also blow some people away. Speaking at a recent Los Angeles screening for the film in a conversation moderated by “Hamilton” Tony-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, Cooper revealed that he spent a whopping six years learning how to conduct just over six minutes of music in the style of Bernstein himself so he could record a crucial scene in “Maestro” live on set.
The scene in question recreates Bernstein’s famous conducting of the London Symphony Orchestra at the Ely Cathedral in 1976. The sequence is the film’s most rousing, as it fully showcases Bernstein’s musical genius and shows off Cooper’s staggering performance in all its full-bodied glory.
“That scene I was so worried about because we did it live,” Cooper said at the event (via IndieWire). “That was the London Symphony Orchestra. I was recorded live. I had to conduct them. And I spent six years learning how to conduct six minutes and 21 seconds of music.”
“I was able to get the raw take where I just watched Leonard Bernstein [conduct] at Ely Cathedral with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976. And so I had that to study,” Cooper added, while also thanking “wonderful teachers” such as Metropolitan Opera director Yannick Nézet-Séguin for helping him fine-tune the performance.
“Nézet-Séguin made videos with all the tempo changes, so I had all of the materials to just work on.” Cooper said. “It was really about dialing exactly what I wanted cinematically and then inviting them into then inhabit that space and trusting that they have all done the work. Because I think that I knew I was terrified, absolutely terrified that if I hadn’t done the work then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy myself in these scenes. And everybody did.”
It took him six years to learn how to fake-conduct an orchestra for six minutes? I’m sorry but Lydia Tar did it better. The fact that Maestro came out one year after Cate Blanchett’s incredible turn as the fictional Lydia Tar is hilarious to me – Cate’s conducting scenes were brilliant and she didn’t spend months bragging about any kind of tortuous, years-long process to get into character.
Bradley Cooper shared his concerns about filming the scene featuring Leonard Bernstein conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. He mentioned, "That scene I was so worried about because we did it live… I was recorded live. I had to conduct them. And I spent six years learning… pic.twitter.com/KPfFgBOTW0
— Screenplayed (@Screenplayed) December 29, 2023
Photos courtesy of Jason McDonald/Netflix, Backgrid and screencap from the trailer.
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- New York, NY – Actor Bradley Cooper gets into character as he transforms into Leonard Bernstein to shoot scenes for the upcoming Netflix film “Maestro.” Pictured: Bradley Cooper BACKGRID USA 5 JULY 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Robert O’Neil/Backgrid / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Actor Bradley Cooper gets into character as he transforms into Leonard Bernstein to shoot scenes for the upcoming Netflix film “Maestro.” Pictured: Bradley Cooper BACKGRID USA 5 JULY 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Robert O’Neil/Backgrid / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Maestro. (L to R) Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein (Director/Writer/Producer) and Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in Maestro. Cr. Jason McDonald/Netflix © 2023.
He is so exhausting. I miss the old Bradley Cooper who was so fun in the hangover series and Wedding Crashers.
He is so thirsty! I cringe every time he is mentioned
“Exhausting” is exactly it. I can’t imagine living like that all the time.
He’s the ultimate “pick me” actor IMO
Me too, Kaiser. I immediately thought of Cate Blanchett’s (magnificent) performance in Tar: she made it look like she had done conducting her whole life, a masterclass in acting. Did not feel the need to brag about it…
I’ve met Natalie Murray Beale, who taught Cate Blanchett how to (fake) conducting, and she’s brilliant. Bradley should have worked with her.
Tried to watch Cate Blanchett pretending to be musician Tar, but she put me to sleep. After reading this, I thought I must have missed something and sat through Tar again. Ugh! Her best performance in Tar is a vicious verbal assault on a child! The rest of her Tar show seems like classic Cate, with her core belief she’s the smartest chic in the room (just like when she thought Dylan Farrow should be investigated again for accusing Woody Allen of assault).
Omggggg the cringe is too much. It doesn’t sound like he actually learned the music in all that time? Just the choreography of Bernstein conducting the piece from a video? So the orchestra was playing it themselves?! I cannot deal. I’m too embarrassed. I can’t even think about the nose.
Cringe is right, my god. I couldn’t read the excerpt, so strong is the second hand embarrasement.
Dude, let your performance speak for itsself.
But therein lies the problem: the performance is mediocre at best, and that’s the most charitable take I’m able of.
Whatever you do, DO NOT watch the embedded video clip!! He is literally not keeping any tempo, it’s… so bad.
@SAS I watched it without sound (on my work computer) and my god, it’s unbelievably hilarious
Sas, you warned me but I did it anyway. Now I learned my lesson. soooo bad
I’m so old I remember when actors didn’t spend all their time before nominations embiggening themselves. Cooper’s not the only one but he is the worst. I too was like, six years to conduct for six minutes? That’s a year per minute. Dude…give it a rest.
I’m really tired of actors pretending that they aren’t just actors. No, you didn’t become a prima ballerina in a year Natalie Portman and you sure as hell weren’t learning to conduct an orchestra for six years Bradley. 🙄
Thank you!! Came in here to name check Natalie Portman, who must forever wear the shame of pretending to become a prima ballerina in mere months while her face was LITERALLY CGI’D ONTO HER BALLET DOUBLE. Natalie proceeded to lie about it in every single interview. I guess it won her an Oscar and BCoop is now trying to pull the same trick…ugh.
On the plus side. we can’t be the only ones who immediately think of her/that when an actor claims to have mastered the (hugely complex) craft of someone they’re pretending to be in a film. That will always follow her around.
Natalie’s whole schtick was insulting to real ballerinas and, unpopular opinion, she wasn’t even that good in the role. I thought her her acting was bad. I was going to say the struggle campaigning is getting ridiculous but it’s BEEN ridiculous. Do they not hear themselves? Are the not in on the joke? At this point, the Oscar needs to go to the actor who just says, “I was just acting. Nothing to see here.” That would be refreshing.
Natalie’s prima ballerina fraud should be more talked about than it is. Only Dance magazine readers seem outraged by this. Full credit to Sarah Lane who actually did all the dancing. Portman was only seen dancing from shoulders up. It takes many years of intensive training to become a prima ballerina. More than six actually.
Which is why it’s weird that everyone assumed Natalie had done all the dancing in the first place. She actually never said she did. She even said she used a body double for the more complicated moves. “Sit was not something I could ever have done in a year” to quote her exactly. The producers marketed the film that way. Even Sarah Lane stated that.
But Portman didn’t waste alot of time giving credit to the actual dancer did she? That was a terrible movie, and in my option, an overwrought and bad performance. Cooper’s so so thirsty that I am embarrassed for him.
Right. See also: Deborah Kerr vs Christopher Plummer and Audrey Hepburn (now you know I’m an old hahah). Kerr was always clear and strong about how much she appreciated working with Marnie Nixon, who dubbed her in “The King and I.” Kerr was classy and acknowledged the hard work that others did to help her make that iconic performance.
Plummer and Hepburn, on the other hand, in “The Sound of Music” and “My Fair Lady” respectively, always bitched and moaned about how their own voices were great and how much they resented being dubbed – to the point of releasing videos with their original singing (see YouTube). Neither one had a good voice and neither one ever paid any respect to the singers who dubbed them and raised their performances to such great heights. Legend has it that Hepburn was denied her Oscar for “My Fair Lady” because of how much trash she talked about Julie Andrews, who originated the role on Broadway but lost out to Hepburn in the movie version. And Plummer had to wait until nearly the end of his life for his Oscar. Selfish and arrogant to the last.
@Lady Esther: ah, no. I don’t know anything about what Christopher Plummer did or didn’t do concerning The Sound of Music, but what you state about Audrey Hepburn in MFL is literally all wrong. Practically the opposite of what happened. She would have been happy to work with Marni Nixon or anyone else on the singing but that couldn’t happen because she wasn’t told they weren’t using her vocals until the picture was almost complete. She worked very hard to record all the tracks. She was not happy that she was misled like this but never trashed anyone. Deborah Kerr and Julie Andrews were both good friends of hers. Deborah was more outraged than Audrey that Audrey wasn’t nominated and Audrey even said her performance must not have been up to snuff. Anyway, the media wanted a catfight but one failed to materialize at the Oscars when Audrey graciously agreed to present the best actor Oscar and later she and Julie were photographed together with Julie holding the Oscar. Of course, like all humans, AH was no saint, but she was never so unclassy as you describe. Never happened. My source is the AH collection on The Stars and Letters website. Also Christie’s The Audrey Hepburn collection. Can’t imagine what your source is.
….it took him six years to watch videos and imitate them? LMAO! Oh honey, I’m not sure that’s the flex you think it is! The Oscar thirst from him is just painful now.
The thirst is painful and obvious and he will be disappointed.
Did Bradley Cooper darken his skin to play Bernstein as well as put on a fake nose? It looks so to me.
I watched the clip and his fake tanner or whatever it is is super distracting.
Six years to learn a six and a bit minute scene? You’re an actor, this is literally your job.
Was all of it necessary, though? He is a good actor. He should have just tried acting. On the other hand, I kinda would like to see Zac Efron getting a nod for his wrestling movie.
There’s that great quote from Laurence Olivier (supposedly speaking to Dustin Hoffman, I believe): “My dear boy, have you tried acting?”
Over Christmas I went to a choir presentation. Some of the music was so beautiful, I just closed my eyes and soaked it in. My hands and body became involved involuntarily with the music (empty seats on both sides of me, so I disturbed no one). At intermission, a fellow behind me asked if I had conducted or was a conductor because of the way my right hand (specifically, I don’t know what my left hand was doing) cupped and raised as the music soared. If my emotional and physical response to the music was to have someone ask if I was a conductor, then I HAVE to ask Mr. Cooper what the pluck took him so long to learn??? I’m willing to bet every single music lover in the world has at one time or another used their hands and arms to “conduct” a beloved piece of music, no matter the genre. Mr. Cooper seems very full of himself and I wonder if he understands that to need 6 years to learn how to move his body in response to music doesn’t come across like maybe he thinks it does.
He looks more like a sweaty Barry Manilow than Leonard Bernstein to me.
🤣🤣😂😆😁 Thanks for the laugh! 🤭
Thank you! It’s been bugging me for weeks to figure out who he really resembles.
Kudos!
haha you are so right! Bradley’s next Oscar campaign — “Could It Be Magic? The Barry Manilow Story” in which he takes ten years to perfect his cover of the song.
YES! Thank you, absolutely nailed it.
DEAD. hahahaha excellent
Dying 😂
Hey!!! Don’t insult Barry Manilow!
There should be some kind of award (ironically given) that pits actors who try to convince the Academy that their effort to perform was the most arduous ever. (e.g. Leo in The Revenant)
Leo’s efforts were cringy because you could see he was fully aware that it was not his most outstanding performance. He had much more iconic performances before and he shouldn’t have had to do this stupid round of “suffered for the art” bullshit. I was embarrased for him and he was uncomfortable too. But it was his turn and they gave it to him.
Now BCoop does not look that self-aware and he will be disappointed.
Ooh yes, I am absolutely here for this. Award them based on how hard they campaign.
Leo won an Oscar for his worst film. He now will basically get nominated for anything.
Agreed–the Razzies should include this as a new category. Oscar-wannabe actors are agonizing to watch…
Sir you played a talking raccoon for 10 years. Let’s calm down a touch.
😂 I actually think his performance as Rocket is some of his best work. That and Wedding Crashers. What that says about me? I don’t know.
It’s true though, JT. There are times I have to remind myself Rocket isn’t real; with this, I was always SEEING the acting.
Yeah, no. He can’t be saying he knows how to conduct, or that he learnt how to conduct, OMG.
For that, he would have to be able to read sheet music, and if you haven’t seen what conductors look at, they are reading what all the instruments are playing… all at once, as in one pentagram per instrument, one on top of the other. And then he would need to understand the piece and convey to the orchestra how they should be interpreting the music. That is why, say, Beethoven’s 9th sounds differently, depending on who is conducting.
This is insane to me.
I think he knows how to play piano so I assume he could read sheet music. So I don’t know why he didn’t take conducting courses if he could read music. He could have acquired a basic level of skill in six years or less.
BC is low-grade reminding me of Nicholas Cage and Jared Leto and it’s not a good thing.
For me, all of BCoop’s talk of how hard he worked so he deserves an Oscar distracts from what have been the point of the film: to honor a brilliant, complicated and flawed man. Now it’s “Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein” and the discussion is how well he was able to mimic (because that’s what he was doing for six years, not learning to conduct) Bernstein’s movements. I’d rather see him disappear into a role. It’s one thing when discussing a fictional character, it’s a whole different discussion when the subject’s a real person.
German has a word for it.
fremdschämen
When you’re embarrassed for somebody else who should be embarrassed but isn’t.
German has all the best words. Schadenfreude, fremdschämen, backpfeifengesicht (a face in need of a punch).
“Verguenza ajena” in Spanish
“Scarleh for ya!” in Irish (well, in Hiberno-English).
ACTUALLY: I have never liked Bradley Cooper, but he did a pretty good job as Leonard Bernstein, and I’m a professional symphony musician. The thing is, it’s easier to play a fictional conductor, because you can be more yourself, but he had to emulate Bernstein’s extremely over the top, sweaty conducting! The thing is, though, so much of conducting is also a personal inward force, a force of one’s inner being that can communicate with the musicians. And no, I didn’t feel that at all in his conducting; I felt uncomfortable. I was prepared to hate the fake nose, but actually he looked a lot like Maestro Bernstein, so I didn’t hate it. I was AMAZED at how the movie encapsulated so much by small scenes, especially Carey Mulligan’s cancer treatment. It brought back some terrible memories of loved ones’ unsuccessful cancer struggles, but that all seemed totally real to me. It was worth seeing, and he deserves to be NOMINATED. BTW, one thing that MYSTIFIED my husband and me (he’s a symphony musician also) was the conducting student Lenny was coaching who counted off aloud ” 1-2-3″ before starting!!!! My hubby and I both burst out laughing, because NO CONDUCTING STUDENT above high school would EVER count out loud! The whole point of conducting is to give everything with one’s motions. We are mystified why any advisor would allow such a weird error!
@Nikki…Thank you for this comment which reflects my opinion PERFECTLY!
“NO CONDUCTING STUDENT above high school would EVER count out loud”
Agree.
I played in an amateur orchestra. Our conductors never counted out loud. A good conductor gathers everyone’s eyes to himself/herself, then, and only then, gives the beat.
We were the pit orchestra for a musical, and several bars before our entry, our conductor would gesture at every section to ensure all players’ eyes were on him, then get us in at the exact right moment.
I am getting shades of the criticism Anne Hathaway got years ago for her politicking (and she won). In contrast, Jennifer Lawrence, who was doing her fair share of politicking, was considered the cool girl, but who also won (a year earlier).
All of these actors/actresses — event Cillian Murphy — are politicking for nominations, and is like Ann H. and Jennifer L.: some do it more subtly than others.
Maestro: I liked it, not loved it. I think all of the acting was good, but some of the writing was cringey and it seems like B. Coop is the type of person who wouldn’t like his work edited. Also, weird closeups on himself that made it look like his eyes glowed and he had a goofy smile.
Sure Jan, keep doing too much.
It takes SIX YEARS to learn how to conduct? LOL
If you’re going to be professional, yes. Learning to understanding the music the intonations, timing, bringing it to life the way you way you want to. My brother is a professional Musician and directs choirs. To just copy moves for a movie? Nah.
Bradley signed on to do Maestro back in 2018, but didn’t he work on 5 or more other films between then and the actual shooting of Maestro? The phrasing “spent 6 years” sounds like that was his main focus for all that time, but it isn’t possible. More likely, he thought about it every so often until he really had to focus before shooting.
I watched Cocaine Bear again and it’s superior to any of the pompous “Oscar movies”. I’m sick of bloated pretentious “Oscar movies” and the huge egos involved.
I go to the cinema for fun and entertainment and I have rarely seen any of the big oscar movies in a given year.
I absolutely LOVED Cocaine Bear (“MY NAME’S HENRY AND I’M SO F$%*ING TIRED”).
I laughed so hard with Cocaine Bear!
Hate Bradley Cooper. Hate, hate, hate (Sorry, Rocket.)
These Oscar campaigns are so exhausting. Whatever happened to a great performance just being a great performance?
Still gonna see it because I love Carey Mulligan so much.
I’m hoping he means that he studied music theory and what have you so that he could actually read an orchestral score, not just learning the gestures.
I hope the musicians he “conducted” had a big laugh together about his prowess afterward.
Desperate for attention, light weight in talent, lucky to get a job, overpaid actor, says What?
What a load pf BS.
All the above comments calling BC out are perfect.
Btw, I watched The Aviator with Leo DiCaprio, directed by Scorsese yesterday on Prime.
I’d forgotten how well done this was, Howard Hughes story.
I like Leo, I do not have an interest in some of his subject matter/choices of roles.
Leo just dominates the screen, and he was pretty young in TA.
The Aviator was _excellent_ across the board. And I couldn’t stand (the notoriously racist) Howard Hughes in rl.
Of course he’s going to campaign and talk about how much “work and time” it took to perfect his conducting! He can’t help himself–he’s hardwired to beg for validation. The male of the human species needs approval for doing mundane things like a load of laundry, so yes, he’s going to talk about how hard he worked on a role. But Cate did her prep, “conducted” the orchestra, and continued on with her life and didn’t HAVE to say anything about it. She’s the female of the species, and we all know the women just do the work and don’t have to yammer about it because there’s too much other stuff that needs to be done, instead. And Cate is one of the coolest chicks on the planet, so there’s that.
He really needs to stop talking. I hate when actors are under the misguided impression that they’re curing cancer or something. Dude, sit down.
I don’t think this is that weird. People get Ba in music and learn to conduct in four years. You need a masters for the big leagues but it’s not like it can’t happen.
I’m going to be honest…les chefs d’orchestres don’t even seem like they are conducting the orchestra. I don’t know how the musicians follow them, but I imagine that they almost don’t need to (these are professionals). Bradley claiming he needed 6 years of study to play pretend is just…🫠 You’re an actor…Why did you need 6 years to learn how to act?
I want to see Ryan Gosling nominated for Barbie, and I want to see him win! His performance was absolutely the best!