Bradley Cooper explains why he wore a huge prosthetic nose for Maestro

Over the summer, the first official photos and trailer came out for Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. He directed and stars in the Leonard Bernstein bio-pic and it’s apparently his passion project and something he’s been working on for years. Considering his years of interest in playing Bernstein, you would think that Bradley would have carefully considered how he wanted his Bernstein to look regarding makeup and prosthetics. You would think that Bradley wouldn’t go overboard with a comically offensive fake nose. You would be wrong! Once the trailer came out, all people could talk about was why the hell did Bradley feel it was necessary to wear a giant prosthetic nose? Bernstein’s real nose wasn’t even that big. Well, now that the SAG strike is over, Bradley finally has a chance to explain his thinking.

Bradley Cooper said the backlash over his prosthetic nose in “Maestro” didn’t catch him “off guard” and is standing by his decision to emulate famed conductor Leonard Bernstein’s face.

“The truth is…I’d done this whole process out of love, and it’s so clear to me where I come from,” Cooper told CBS’ Gayle King in an interview aired Tuesday.

“My nose is very similar to Lenny’s, actually. I thought, ‘Maybe we don’t need to do it,’ but it’s all about balance, and, you know, my lips are nothing like Lenny’s, and my chin.”

The “A Star Is Born” actor maintained that his appearance “didn’t look right [without the prosthetic].”

Cooper, 48, also explained that the younger version of Bernstein in the film used more minimal prosthetics, but as the character ages, the makeup artists had to reflect the changes.

“By the time he’s older, it’s the whole face [that had prosthetics], so we just had to do it,” said Cooper. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t believe he was a human being.”

[From Page Six]

So, I understand – generally – the argument of hey, I tried different makeup and prosthetics and this is the combination which seemed to give me the most authentic Bernstein look. But look at the actual photos and the nose in motion in the trailer – the nose doesn’t actually “balance” his face at all or make him look any more or less like Bernstein. Playing the younger Bernstein without any prosthetics would have been the more “balanced” choice. You’re an actor – act like Bernstein, apply some makeup tricks and call it a day.

Photos courtesy of Jason McDonald/Netflix, screencap from trailer and Backgrid.

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