Though Bradley Cooper had initially garnered buzz over his upcoming movie Maestro, where he portrays famed American conductor Leonard Bernstein, the reaction to the project has since taken a turn for the worse.
Following the release of the film's first trailer, netizens took to social media with their disappointment over the actor's self-casting, given that he portrays a Jewish man, which he isn't.
Moreover, he has been accused of "Jewface," a term used to describe moments when negative or inauthentic stereotypes of Jewish people are made in portrayals of their stories.
For the film, which Bradley also directed and co-wrote with Josh Singer, he uses a prosthetic nose to enlarge his own, making for one of the most common and offensive tropes historically used to mock the Jewish community, and reinforcing antisemitic stereotypes.
In the biopic, he stars opposite Carey Mulligan, who stars as Bernstein's wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. Per IMDb, the film will focus on their tumultuous marriage, and the plot reads: "The complex love of Leonard and Felicia, from the time they met in 1946 at a party and continuing through two engagements, a 25-year marriage, and three children."
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There's been differing views across X, formerly known as Twitter, since the trailer dropped, with most agreeing that Bradley's casting, and more specifically the prosthetic nose, is considered offensive and a case of Jewface.
"It's less about the nose for me, and more about how Bradley Cooper will portray (and direct) a movie about a man who once described himself as a 'chip off the old tanakh.' I'm hoping Bernstein's Judaism isn't sidelined because it was deeply important to him," one social media user argued, referring to the Hebrew Bible.
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Some argued that the prosthetic nose doesn't resemble that of Bernstein's and is inaccurately larger, therefore unnecessarily reinforcing the common stereotype, as another tweet noted: "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," and another reiterated the argument with: "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."
Another tweet declared: "Bradley Cooper should not be playing Leonard Bernstein. He should not be wearing a prosthetic nose. This is Jewface & is as serious & offensive as Blackface or the racializing of other minorities. Stop erasing Jews. Stop erasing Jew-hate. Jews do count."
Bernstein's family, who gave the rights to the film to Bradley, have since broken their silence on the backlash, and came to the star's defense. In a statement on Instagram, his kids maintained: "At all times during the making of this film, we could feel the profound respect and yes, the love that Bradley brought to his portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, our mother Felicia."
Amid the backlash, it has also come to light that Jake Gyllenhaal, who is Jewish, had previously expressed a strong interest in playing Bernstein, before losing the rights to the movie to Bradley.
Back in 2018, Deadline announced that Jake was set to star in and produce a separate Bernstein biopic titled The American, and he told the outlet: "As a man, Bernstein was a fascinating figure – full of genius and contradiction – and it will be an incredible honor to tell his story."
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Three years later, he again opened up to the outlet about the film, and losing the exclusive rights to it, first explaining: "No one likes to admit this but, we got beat at our own game. That's basically what happened," before adding: "That story, that idea of playing one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America and his struggle with his identity was in my heart for 20 some odd years."
An interview Bradley did with Stephen Colbert in 2022 has also resurfaced where he claimed Steven Spielberg, previously attached as director on Maestro – and now producer alongside Martin Scorsese – told him he should direct it; at the time, however, Bradley also admitted he was unaware of who Bernstein was.