Maestro – Bradley Cooper's journey to Leonard Bernstein, fuelled by Christian Bale, and unforgettable on-set experiences

Bradley Cooper’s latest musical-romance has become a talk of the town, after its World Premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival 2023

Bradley Cooper and Spike Lee

Maestro is a latest musical-romance drama that is based on the life of composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife actress Felicia Montealegre. The trailer shows Bradley Cooper's character as Leonard focusing on important moments in his life and his amazing success as a music conductor. It also shows different parts of Bernstein’s life like his relationships, fame, music, and marriage with Felicia. In the trailer, an older man can be seen telling the story of the composer’s life.

Maestro release date

The film had a Netflix premiere on December 12 at the Academy of Motion Pictures, where Matt Bomer, Brian Klugman, Sarah Silverman, Gideon Glick, Bradley Cooper, Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Maya Hawke and Alexa Swinton have attended in Los Angeles. Maestro is scheduled to release on December 20, 2023 on Netflix.

Recently Bradley Cooper and Spike Lee have a fascinating chat through Variety's Directors On Directors. There Bradley and Spike talked about their experiences as directors, their on-set experiences, inspirations, about their different ways of direction, and more.

ALSO READ: Bradley Cooper's Maestro OTT release date, trailer, cast, plot, and more

Spike Lee and Bradley Cooper's conversation

Spike Lee began the conversation with a congratulatory speech for Maestro, “I have seen Maestro three times. It’s the bomb, man. You were the director and the lead of the film. How would you do that? Give me the science.” To this question, Cooper replied that he's lucky enough that a few directors think that he doesn't prepare himself for a film just like an actor only. “I actually think in terms of the whole story. They were generous enough to allow me to come with them on their journey. I was in one role for so many years, [but in fact] I was a sort of quarterback, really getting to know the plays and reading defense”, Cooper said.

When Lee asked how Bradley would react, if in future he directs a film, and Cooper is the actor, to that question, the Maestro actor-director shared, “I will do whatever you say. I’m your actor. But I will say this about Maestro, I grew up on this movie. It changed me as an artist. And people may not like it. I’m sure they won’t.”

Who inspired Bradley Cooper?

While talking about the inspiration for doing Maestro, Cooper shared that it's Christian Bale, who inspired him the most, who as an actor stays in the voice of a character. “I had heard stories about Daniel Day-Lewis. I couldn’t figure out how someone could do that. Then I realised I was overthinking it. Christian just stayed in the voice, but we talked about his kids. It was not like he saw an iPhone and had a heart attack. Ever since American Hustle, that’s how I have done it as an actor”, the 48-year-old actor stated.

Watch the whole interview here:

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