NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� After Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose in for the upcoming Leonard Bernstein biopic 鈥淢aestro鈥� stoked criticism of antisemitism, the conductor's children have come to the defense of the actor.
The teaser trailer for 鈥淢aestro,鈥� which Cooper directs and stars in, debuted Tuesday and offered the first close-up look at Cooper's makeup and performance as the great American composer and longtime music director of the New York Philharmonic. Cooper, who is not Jewish, dons a prosthetic nose as part of his transformation into Bernstein, who was.
To some, Cooper's nose in the trailer seemed like the kind of outsized caricature that has been a regular feature of Jewish portrayals throughout film history. The nonprofit group Stop Antisemitism called it 鈥渟ickening.鈥�
鈥淗ollywood cast Bradley Cooper 鈥� a non-Jew 鈥� to play Jewish legend Leonard Bernstein and stuck a disgusting exaggerated 鈥楯ew nose鈥� on him,鈥� .
Bernstein鈥檚 three children 鈥� Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein 鈥� on Wednesday saying they were 鈥渢ouched to the core to witness the depth of (Cooper's) commitment, his loving embrace of our father鈥檚 music and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration.鈥�
鈥淚t breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts," the statement said. 鈥淚t happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we鈥檙e perfectly fine with that. We鈥檙e also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.鈥�
The Bernstein children added that 鈥渟trident complaints about this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch 鈥� a practice we observed perpetrated all too often on our father.鈥�
A representative for Cooper declined to comment. Netflix, which is distributing the film, also wouldn't comment.
鈥淢aestro鈥� is set to premiere next month at the Venice Film Festival. Netflix will release it in select theaters Nov. 22 and on the streaming platform on Dec. 20.
The Cooper-Bernstein situation is multilayered; it touches not only the issue of stereotyping but the larger question of casting when it comes to certain groups. In recent years, there has been much debate throughout the acting world over who can and should portray certain characters, particularly in an environment where some groups have struggled over the decades to get regular and substantive work in Hollywood.
Emma Stone was criticized over and apologized for playing a half-Asian character in Cameron Crowe鈥檚 2015 film 鈥淎loha.鈥� Tom Hanks has said if 鈥淧hiladelphia鈥� (1993) was made today, it would star a gay actor, 鈥渁nd rightly so.鈥� Some LGBTQ+ advocates have argued that trans roles like Jeffrey Tambor's in 鈥淭ransparent鈥� and Eddie Redmayne's in 鈥淭he Danish Girl鈥� ought to have been played by trans performers.
Those discussions have been largely focused on the authentic portrayals of ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ characters, but some have argued the same perspective should also apply to Jewish characters. The stereotype of the large Jewish nose in particular has persisted in through centuries, from Shakespeare's Shylock to Nazi propaganda. 鈥淲hile the hooked nose is but one antisemitic caricature of many, it is particularly pernicious in that it is assumed to be true,鈥�
鈥淛ews Don't Count鈥� author David Baddiel earlier this year the casting of Irish actor Cillian Murphy as Jewish physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's 鈥淥ppenheimer," along with the casting of Helen Mirren as former Israel Prime Minister Golda Meir in the upcoming film 鈥淕olda.鈥�
鈥淐asting directors are now frightened to cast except in line with the minority they are casting," Baddiel told the Times. "But they are not so worried about Jews.鈥�
Others have argued that transformation is an innate aspect of acting. Mark Harris, the Hollywood author and journalist, dismissed the controversy.
鈥淲e are not going to start fall movie season with a stupid 鈥榖acklash鈥� controversy over an actor wearing makeup so that he can more closely resemble the historical figure he鈥檚 playing,鈥� 鈥淭hat is what actors have done for decades and will continue to do.鈥�
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
