What did Leonard Bernstein look like compared to Bradley Cooper?

Maestro has received mostly positive reviews so far, with a heavy focus being on Bradley Cooper’s performance as the legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. 

Currently, the biopic is only available to watch in theaters, with the film making its way to streaming later next month. The film has very clearly been a labor of love for Cooper, who not only stars in the leading role, but co-wrote the script (along with Josh Singer) and directed the movie!

And it seems as though Cooper’s devotion to the film’s subject has paid off, as critics have praised the film’s directing story and performances. But just how accurate is Bradley’s portrayal of Bernstein? More specifically, we want to know what the conductor looked like compared to the actor portraying him, do the two look similar, or did Cooper have to make some physical changes with the aid of makeup and prosthetics?

Do Leonard Bernstein and Bradley Cooper actually look alike?

As a matter of fact, the two do have many similarities when it comes to their appearance. Cooper’s facial features are a close enough match to the man he is portraying in the film, or at least he does to my untrained eye. Simple changes like his hair being styled in the same way as the composer along with his clothes and other such details go a long way to making Cooper look like the man as well.

Even though there are small differences like Cooper’s eyes being blue and Bernstein’s being brown, it’s something that I’d say is easy to forgive considering the effort put in to match the rest of the composer’s look. Overall it seems like the makeup department did a pretty good job at making the actor look similar enough to the subject. 

We also see Cooper portraying Bernstein at different stages in his life, with the actor looking older and with white hair in some scenes. It’s fair to say that the striking look is pretty accurate to how we know Bernstein actually looked.

Controversy surrounding Bradley Cooper’s Maestro look

Not everything about Cooper’s look in the film has been commended. When the first trailer dropped, many were outraged at the apparent prosthetic nose the actor was wearing, which doesn’t particular resemble Bernstein’s nose at all. Weirdly enough, Cooper’s real nose looks more like the composer’s, so why did they give him a bigger prosthetic one in the first place?

Many also took issue with Cooper, who is not Jewish, portraying a Jewish cultural icon. That, coupled with the exaggerated nose, has resulted in many claiming that Cooper is in “Jewface” and that the film is borderline anti-Semitic.

While the nose is an admittedly weird fumble on the filmmakers’ part, it seems that Cooper’s makeup and costumes make up for it. He looks very convincing as Bernstein and his performance really sells it.