He composed a sincere apology.
Oscar-winning makeup artist Kazu Hiro apologized Saturday after the prosthetic nose he created for the upcoming Leonard Bernstein biopic, “Maestro,” caused a crescendo of online backlash — with several users calling the nose a prime example of “Jewface,” reports Deadline.
“I wasn’t expecting it to happen,” Hiro, 54, told press at the Venice Film Festival of the accusations of antisemitism. “I feel sorry if I hurt some people’s feelings. I wanted to portray Lenny as real as possible.”
“He’s photogenic and a great person, we wanted to respect and love that look,” continued the two-time Oscar winner. “We did several different tests. That was our [only] intention.”
When contacted Sunday by The Post, Hiro reiterated that he was sorry if he hurt anyone’s feelings.
“Maestro” — which garnered a 7-minute standing ovation at the festival — tells the “fearless love story” of the legendary “West Side Story” composer, played by Bradley Cooper, 48, who is not Jewish, and his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan, 38).
The film has been heavily scrutinized since the debut of its first trailer, depicting Bernstein with a wildly exaggerated nose. Cooper is also directing.
“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,” Jewish actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, 57, told Page Six.
“If he needs to wear a prosthetic nose, then that is, to me and many others, the equivalent of Black-Face or Yellow-Face.”
The trailer continued to play a sour note on X (formerly Twitter), where several fans argued that the nose choice stinks.
“Just looked up a picture of the real Leonard Bernstein…. the big antisemitic prosthetic nose on Bradley Cooper was definitely not necessary,” posted one angry user.
“Bradley Cooper still isn’t Jewish and he’s wearing a prosthetic nose that doesn’t even look like Bernstein’s nose and just like some stereotype,” tweeted another incensed person. “He’s using this bulls–t to win an Oscar.”
Coming to the A-lister’s defense, Bernstein’s children — who attended the film’s premiere Saturday — stated their support for Cooper’s portrayal of their father, who died in 1990.
“We were touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment, his loving embrace of our father’s music, and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration,” Jamie, Alexander, and Nina Bernstein said in a statement shared on social media last month.
“It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts. 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.”
The statement continues that they believe that if their father was alive today, he “would have been fine with it as well.”
“Maestro” is keyed up for a Dec. 20 release on Netflix following a brief theatrical run.
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