Netflix has high hopes for the Bradley Cooper film Maestro, which opens at the end of the year. But its trailer caused outrage and major criticism
Following his acclaimed directorial debut A Star Is Born, Bradley Cooper is also turning his attention to music in his second self-directed film.Maestro will launch on Netflix on December 20, 2023 and has now released a first short teaser trailer. But the reactions to this glimpse into the biographical drama about Leonard Bernstein are not as positive as hoped. And the reason is an unmissable detail.
Criticism instead of Oscar advance: Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose makes Netflix movie Maestro problematic
There are films that the streaming service Netflix deliberately puts at the end of the year and even gives a limited theatrical release: usually in order to simultaneously recommend these prestige projects for an Oscar nomination through their well-timed release. Maestro by and with Bradley Cooper is one of these films. The biopic chronicles the life of famed West Side Story composer Leonard Bernstein and his relationship with his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) over the course of 30 years.
See the first Netflix trailer for Maestro here
What many can’t help but notice when watching the Maestro trailer, however, is Bradley Cooper fake nose.
At first glance, the outcry could be compared to the attention paid to Rami Malek’s false teeth in Bohemian Rhapsody. But a magnified nose is loaded with anti-Semitic meaning in a historical context: In caricatures, Jews and Jewish women were often depicted with the “identifying feature” of large hooked noses. Studies have long since disproved this prejudice, which is stupid anyway. Leonard Bernstein, at any rate, was the son of Jewish immigrants – and now Bradley Cooper wears an oversized, artificial nose in the film.
Antisemitic Netflix controversy: What’s behind the reactions to the Maestro nose?
No one would accuse Bradley Cooper of actively propagating hatred of Jews by spreading hurtful stereotypes. Nevertheless, the prosthetic nose does not raise questions without reason. The conspicuous feature becomes problematic, for example, by the fact that many observers:inside comparatively point out that Leonard Bernstein’s nose was not at all excessively large and even smaller than Bradley Cooper’s nose:
This feels especially sinister because Bradley Cooper’s nose is already the same shape and size, if not slightly larger, than Leonard Bernstein’s was. https://t.co/4GbCEFqvnG pic.twitter.com/bnOLLFn6JT
– Sarah McGonagall (@gothspiderbitch) August 16, 2023
“This feels especially vicious because Bradley Cooper’s nose is already the same shape and size as Leonard Bernstein’s, maybe even a little bigger. “
” Did the facial prosthetics team even try to get it right? “
just looked up a picture of the real leonard bernstein…. the big antisemitic prosthetic nose on bradley cooper was definitely not necessary…. pic.twitter.com/nrCgxi9jlL
– louisa (@stabfreeman) August 15, 2023
“I just looked up a photo of the real Leonard Bernstein …. and the big, anti-Semitic nose on Bradley Cooper really wasn’t necessary. “
Left: Bradley Cooper with his prosthetic nose, playing Leonard Bernstein.
Right: The actual Leonard Bernstein.
This isn’t about making a non-Jewish actor look more like Leonard Bernstein; it’s about making a non-Jewish actor look more like a Jewish stereotype. https://t.co/WrYWuweosW pic.twitter.com/WxspPtHktj
– Joel S. (@jh_swanson) August 15, 2023
“Left: Bradley Cooper with his fake nose playing Leonard Bernstein.
Right: the real Leonard Bernstein.
This is not about making a non-Jewish actor look more like Leonard Bernstein; it’s about making a non-Jewish actor look more like a Jewish stereotype. “
Ok whose idea was it to give Cooper a fake nose to play a Jewish character I just wanna talk
– robert (@robertjoscribe) August 15, 2023
” @Neflix: Ok, whose idea was it to give Bradley Cooper a fake nose to play a Jewish character. I just want to talk. “
Leonard Bernstein’s family gets behind Netflix’s maestro and Bradley Cooper
One day after the trailer release from the Maestro sparked this so-called “Jewface” controversy on social media, Leonard Bernstein’s children issued a joint statement unitedly backing Bradley Cooper’s Maestro for including them from the beginning. Their statement said, among other things:
“It breaks our hearts to see [Bradley Cooper’s] efforts misrepresented and misunderstood. It is true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose makeup to enhance his likeness and we agree. We’re sure our father would have been too. “
Furthermore, they highlight Bradley Cooper’s earnest, passionate efforts and love for Bernstein’s music, and decry the complaints as an unwelcome practice of attacking a successful person, something their father also struggled with.
