Is Bradley Cooper’s film promotion too on the nose?
Harry Khachatrian
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Actor Bradley Cooper has recently found himself at the center of a social media-driven controversy following the release of the trailer for his second directorial feature, Maestro.
In the film, Cooper portrays Leonard Bernstein, a figure whose artistic and cultural contributions to the 20th century were so profound that merely labeling him as a “conductor,” “composer,” or “educator” seems almost reductive. Recognized as one of the last true Renaissance men, Bernstein is celebrated for legendary works such as “West Side Story,” popularizing Gustav Mahler’s compositions, and his myriad philanthropic endeavors. Yet, for all these accomplishments, Bernstein’s nose was never a point of discussion.
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However, it is Cooper’s decision to wear an exaggerated prosthetic nose, more pronounced than Bernstein’s own, that has ignited intense debate, leading to headlines such as “Why Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose in a Bernstein biopic is controversial” (The Washington Post) and “It’s too soon to accuse Bradley Cooper’s Netflix ‘Maestro’ of ‘Jewface’” (MSNBC).
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At the heart of the debate is the blurred boundary between authentic portrayal and cultural appropriation and between attention to detail and unnecessary exaggeration. Living in an era in which controversy is so gratuitous and transient, we’ve seen a plethora of similar debates spring up.
Though our culture is far past the point of Peter Sellers donning dark makeup to portray a bungling Indian actor in The Party (1968), just last spring, a Netflix docudrama cast Cleopatra, historically a Macedonian Greek, as a black woman. In a similar vein, Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Snow White announced a departure from the source material, recasting the Brothers Grimm character as a Hispanic woman. Such decisions, whether rooted in artistic interpretation or purported societal progression, invariably stir discourse.
Leonard Bernstein, meanwhile, never demurred from his Jewish lineage. In fact, he was known to balk at Americanized mispronunciations of his name, such as “Bernsteen,” insisting on the authentic Ashkenazi linguistics. Bernstein’s family issued a statement supporting Cooper’s portrayal and rebuking asinine accusations of antisemitism. It is unlikely they would have been as kind had someone mispronounced the maestro’s name in the trailer.
In a culture where snippets of information and provocative headlines dictate the ebb and flow of public attention, controversy, whether contrived or genuine, can be a boon. A far more probable interpretation of Bradley Cooper’s cartoonish prosthetic is that he is not, in fact, a raging antisemite but a shrewd businessman and adept film promoter.
There is little doubt that had Cooper forgone the decision to enlarge his nose, nobody would have noticed or fumed that his natural nose paled in comparison to the maestro’s. But outside niche, classical music circles, few would be covering the movie at all. A biopic on Bernstein doesn’t take place in Barbie Land, and you can’t choreograph banal TikTok dances to Mahler’s “Adagietto” from his Fifth Symphony.
Instead, Cooper cleverly baited social media lemmings into dedicating reams of coverage debating whether his prosthetic nose crossed a line.
Leonard Bernstein’s legacy, from his groundbreaking compositions that bridged classical and popular music to his televised Young People’s Concerts democratizing musical appreciation, holds immense depth and resonance. As Maestro reaches audiences worldwide, this ephemeral controversy over Cooper’s costume will fade; Bernstein’s indomitable spirit, passion, and brilliance will remain at the forefront. In the vast landscape of discussion and debate, it’s striking to realize: We are all talking about Leonard Bernstein, and we have Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose to thank for it.
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Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a computer engineer in Toronto, pursuing his MBA.