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Bradley Cooper is coming for that Oscar. Netflix released photos of the 47-year-old actor transformed into Broadway composer Leonard Bernstein on the set of the biopic Maestro, set for release in 2023. Bradley is completely unrecognizable in the on-set images, sporting old prosthetics and makeup to play an elderly Leonard in the later years of his life. The film, directed by Bradley, will span 30 years until Leonard’s death in 1990 of a heart attack brought on by mesothelioma.
Netflix also shared photos of Bradley as a much younger Leonard on the set. He’s joined by Carey Mulligan, who plays Leonard’s wife Felicia Montealegre. Bradley is all smiles as Leonard, wearing a fancy suit while standing beside Carey at a stadium. Leonard and Felicia were married from 1951 until she died of lung cancer in 1978. They had three children together, Jamie, Alexander, and Nina. Jamie will be played by Stranger Things star Maya Hawke.
Maestro is Bradley’s directorial follow-up to 2018’s A Star Is Born, which he also starred in alongside Lady Gaga. He’s also producing Maestro with Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips, and Steven Spielberg, among others. In an interview with Variety in January, Bradley revealed that Spielberg gave up directing duties to The Hangover actor, who wanted to do more than just act in the film.
“I [told Spielberg], ‘I always felt like I could play a conductor, but may I research the material and see if I can write it and direct it? Would you let me do that?’ ” Bradley said in the interview. “Steven has a lot of interests — he’ll just choose one thing and all of the other things will be on hold. I think he knew he wasn’t going to make that movie for a while. He was kind enough to hand it off to me, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years.”