Five years after “A Star is Born” debuted on the Lido, on its way to seven Oscar nominations, “Maestro” — Bradley Cooper’s long-awaited second film as director — premiered at the Venice Film Festival to rapturous applause. The drama about the life of legendary stage composer Leonard Bernstein landed a seven-minute-standing ovation at its world premiere at the Sala Grande Theatre on Saturday night.
Cooper, who also plays Bernstein in the Netflix film (with the help of nose prosthetics), and his co-star Carey Mulligan didn’t attend the night’s festivities due to the SAG-AFRTRA strike. But Bernstein’s three children – Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Maria Felicia Bernstein – received the audience’s affection, waving to the crowd as they sobbed once the lights came up. And then they rejoiced in their father’s joy. As the credits rolled to Bernstein’s music, they started to wave their arms as conductors, dancing and celebrating to their father’s art.
“Maestro” subverts some of Bernstein’s best known life moments, including composing “West Side Story,” in favor of focusing on his relationship with his wife Felicia Montealegre (Mulligan). The supporting cast includes Matt Bomer (as Bernstein’s lover), Maya Hawke (as Bernstein’s daughter Jamie) and Sarah Silverman (as Bernstein’s sister Shirley). Cooper co-wrote the script with Josh Singer. The film premiered in competition at Venice alongside other Netflix originals such as David Fincher’s “The Killer” and Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde.”
Heading into Venice, much of the buzz surrounding “Maestro” was centered on Cooper’s decision to wear a prosthetic nose to play Bernstein. Cooper worked with Oscar winner Kazu Hiro (“How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Darkest Hour”) to create the controversial prosthetic. Hiro addressed the backlash during the film’s press conference earlier today.
“I wasn’t expecting that to happen… I feel sorry that I hurt some people’s feelings,” Hiro said. “My goal was and Bradley’s goal was to portray Lenny as authentic as possible. Lenny had a really iconic look that everybody knows — there’s so many pictures out there because he’s photogenic, too — such a great person and also inspired so many people. So we wanted to respect the look too, on the inside. So that’s why we did several different tests and went through lots of decisions and that was the outcome in the movie.”
“It’s just such an annoying distraction,” Jamie Bernstein told Vanity Fair before Venice about the backlash. “The people who were waiting to get mad about something were just waiting to pounce.”
In a previous interview with Variety, Cooper revealed that Steven Spielberg was originally attached to direct a Bernstein biographical drama and recruited Cooper to star in it. Cooper was coming off “A Star Is Born” at the time and was more interested in writing and directing movies than taking on an acting role for someone else, even Spielberg.
“I [told Spielberg], ‘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?’” Cooper said. “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.”
The premiere of “Maestro” was a much more understated affair than a “A Star Is Born,” which had Cooper and Lady Gaga arriving on the Lido by boat to a swarm of paparazzi. The remake became an instant Academy Awards frontrunner after its Venice debut, and it grossed $436 million at the worldwide box office. It won the Oscar for best original song for “Shallow,” which Gaga and Cooper performed at the ceremony.
Netflix often uses the Venice Film Festival to launch its biggest Oscar contenders. “Roma” won the Golden Lion at the 2018 festival before picking up 10 Oscar nominations and three wins, including best director for Alfonso Cuaron. The streamer’s “Marriage Story” launched in Venice in 2019, while “The Power of the Dog” won Jane Campion the best director prize in 2021. Both films went on to earn best picture Oscar nominations.
“Maestro” will stream on Netflix starting Dec. 20.
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