Bradley Cooper recently revealed that his new Netflix project, Maestro, will begin filming in May. In discussion with Mahershala Ali during Variety‘s Actors on Actors series, Cooper shared information about the biopic. Maestro will premiere on Netflix but will also have a theatrical debut, as confirmed by Collider.
Cooper has been interested in music since he was a child, having fallen in love with the idea of being a conductor. It’s clear by the passion he shares for music that the project is very important to him. He even asked Santa Claus for a baton as a child.
“I wanted to be a conductor since I was a kid. I was obsessed with it, asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. Listening to music, falling in love with it and being able to really know every single moment of a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s ‘Opus 35’ in D major, this violin concerto. I could do it as if I know everything about it without really being able to speak the language, obviously.”
Maestro tells the story of Leonard Bernstein — conductor, composer, and humanitarian who was world-renowned for his immense talent and skillful dedication to his craft. In addition to his love of music, Bernstein had a passion for people and raised money/awareness for several initiatives.
How did Cooper become the director for Maestro? He discussed Spielberg’s initial role as director of the film and how a conversation led to Cooper taking on that role.
“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? 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, and we start shooting in May.”
Cooper received three Academy Award nominations for his directorial debut, A Star Is Born, and fans can’t wait to see what he brings to the table as both director and star of Maestro.
