Bradley Cooper defended his movie “Maestro” against criticism that the prosthetic nose he wears to play Leonard Bernstein is insulting to Jewish people.
“I thought, ‘Maybe we don’t need to do it,’” Cooper, 48, said on “CBS Mornings” of his look in the biopic, which he also directed.
“But it’s all about balance, and, you know, my lips are nothing like Lenny’s, and my chin. And so we had that, and it just didn’t look right [without the prosthetic].”
He added: “The truth is … I’d done this whole process out of love, and it’s so clear to me where I come from.”
Cooper also explained that the makeup had to reflect more changes once the character aged in the film.
“By the time he’s older, it’s the whole face [that had prosthetics], so we just had to do it,” he noted. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t believe he was a human being.”
Backlash ensued in August when the Netflix film’s trailer dropped, with some decrying the added appendage as “Jewface” and antisemitic.
Jewish actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, known for appearances on “Doctor Who,” told Page Six at the time: “If Bradley Cooper is able to play the Elephant Man without any prosthetics, he should be able to play a Jewish man without any need for prosthetics — especially a ‘Jewish’ nose.”
And the film’s makeup artist, Kazu Hiro, apologized for any upset caused by the fake nose during a press conference after the movie’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
“I wasn’t expecting it to happen,” Hiro, 54, said. “I feel sorry if I hurt some people’s feelings. I wanted to portray Lenny as real as possible.”
However, children of the famous “West Side Story” composer defended Cooper’s decision, saying, “It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.”
The Anti-Defamation League also had no problem with Cooper’s altered appearance.
“Throughout history, Jews were often portrayed in antisemitic films and propaganda as evil caricatures with large, hooked noses,” the group said in a statement. “This film, which is a biopic on the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, is not that.”
Cooper is favored to receive an Oscar nod for his performance in “Maestro” when the nominations are announced on Jan. 23. The actor-director has been nominated for nine Academy Awards, but has never won one.
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