Leonard Bernstein’s Children Defend Bradley Cooper’s Prosthetic Nose in ‘Maestro’

Leonard Bernstein’s three kids got here to the protection of the actor and director Bradley Cooper on Wednesday after he drew recent criticism for sporting a big prosthetic nostril in his portrayal of the midcentury American composer and conductor, who was Jewish, within the forthcoming film “Maestro.”

When the make-up was first revealed final 12 months, some questioned the choice by Cooper, who just isn’t Jewish, to play Bernstein, who died in 1990. In the Netflix movie, he stars reverse Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s spouse, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein.

The debut of a teaser trailer on Tuesday prompted additional dialogue on social media about each the prosthesis, which critics stated performed into an antisemitic trope, and about whether or not an actor who’s Jewish ought to as a substitute have been solid to play Bernstein, the “West Side Story” composer and music director of the New York Philharmonic.

David Baddiel, a British comic and writer of the 2021 e book “Jews Don’t Count,” cited Cooper as the newest occasion of a gentile actor objectionably portraying a real-life Jewish determine. “I’ve talked about authenticity casting not applying to Jews — and what that means — many times,” he wrote on X, previously often known as Twitter. “The only difference here is it’s more — well — on the nose.”

In a collection of posts on X, the Bernsteins’ three kids — Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein — stated that Cooper had consulted with them “along every step of his amazing journey.”

“It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts,” they stated of Cooper. “It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.”

They added, “Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch.”

Through a consultant, Cooper declined to remark. Netflix didn’t reply to a request for remark.

“Maestro” premieres subsequent month on the Venice Film Festival and, in North America, in October on the New York Film Festival. A theatrical launch within the United States will comply with in November earlier than a December debut on Netflix.

In current years, the query of which actors are eligible to play sure roles has been a hot-button situation in motion pictures, tv and theater, with an growing consensus towards actors’ portraying characters from marginalized teams whose traits they don’t share.

Tom Hanks advised The New York Times Magazine final 12 months that in modern instances he would accurately not be solid as a homosexual man with AIDS, as he was within the 1993 drama “Philadelphia.” At the 2016 Emmy Awards, the actor Jeffrey Tambor stated he hoped to be the final cisgender man to play a transgender character, as he did within the collection “Transparent.”

Some critics, like Baddiel, argue that there’s a double commonplace on the subject of casting Jewish characters, whose portrayal by gentiles is extensively tolerated.

Helen Mirren, who just isn’t Jewish, performs the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in a biopic popping out this month (whilst Liev Schreiber, who’s Jewish, performs Henry Kissinger within the movie, “Golda”). In the current biopic “Oppenheimer,” the Jewish title character was performed by the non-Jewish actor Cillian Murphy.