READ THIS NEXT: The Worst Meryl Streep Movie of All Time, According to Critics. Cooper is not only playing Bernstein, he’s also directing Maestro and co-wrote the movie with Josh Singer. The A Star Is Born filmmaker was originally asked about playing the West Side Story composer when Steven Spielberg was interested in helming the movie; he later passed off directing duties to Cooper. During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in January, Cooper said that Spielberg told him he should direct the movie after Cooper shared some footage with him from his directorial debut. At one point during the A Star Is Born screening, Cooper said Spielberg stood up, which made him think he hated the movie and was leaving the room. But, instead, the director walked over to him and said, “‘You’re [expletive] directing Maestro.’” Cooper continued, “And then he sat back down. And it was amazing.” In his Late Show interview, Cooper shared that the project was a good fit, because he’s always been fascinated by conducting. “When I was eight years old, I asked Santa Claus for a baton because I was obsessed with conducting classical music,” he said.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb The actor added, “Steven Spielberg knew that. He happened to know that I had this obsession with conducting. Like, in grad school, I did an MFA and [you] create a character and I created a conductor and then wrote a monologue. So, it was really something that was always inside of me.” Bernstein is among the most famous composers and conductors of the 20th century. He’s most famous for writing the music for West Side Story, but he also composed the musicals On the Town, Candide, and Wonderful Town, and wrote the score for On the Waterfront. For more celebrity news delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. The newly released photos of Cooper in the movie show the result of the transformation he underwent to play Bernstein. In photos of Cooper as an older Bernstein, he has white hair, he’s wearing facial prosthetics, and his hands even look as though they’ve been aged with makeup. Netflix’s UK and Ireland Twitter account posted the photos with the caption, “From the set of Maestro.” In December 2021, Scott Stuber, Netflix’s head of global films, told Variety of the movie, “We’ve done a lot of work on the makeup. We’ve done a lot of work on the voice. I’m excited to see someone so deeply focused on creating a story that means so much to him.” Maestro only began shooting in May, as reported by Variety, so fans still have quite a long time to wait for the finished product. As for what else we know about the movie: Carrie Mulligan will co-star as Bernstein’s wife, actor Felicia Montealegre. The cast also includes Succession star Jeremy Strong, Stranger Things star Maya Hawke, and White Collar star Matt Bomer. Maestro is expected to be released on Netflix in 2023. READ THIS NEXT: Jack Nicholson Asked Fellow Stars to Boycott the Oscars Over This.
