Netflix went wild as a hugely controversial film was finally released on the streaming service on Wednesday.
Maestro, which has been rated 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, follows the longtime relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (played by Bradley Cooper) and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan).
The biopic premiered at the prestigious Venice Film Festival in September, where it earned a 7-minute standing ovation, but it has not been with controversy.
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Bradley’s makeup, which included a prosthetic nose to play the Jewish icon, drew strong criticism from a number of leading members of the Jewish community, who accused the actor of resorting to ‘Jewface’ in his portrayal.
Despite backlash, film fans were keen to stream Maestro, and shared their excitement on social media.
One wrote: ‘I believe Maestro is out on Netflix today. If you haven’t already watched it, treat yourself and do so!’
‘Now watching: Maestro on #Netflix #maestro Excited for this.. looking fwd to Bradley Cooper working both behind and in front of the camera,’ another added.
A third shared: ‘Maestro starring Carey Mulligan & Bradley Cooper is officially now streaming on Netflix. Can’t wait to watch this masterpiece.’
‘Maestro is coming to Netflix on the 20th. It looks fabulous, I can’t wait!’ someone else posted.
Maestro tells the story of the relationship between Leonard and his wife Felicia. It was directed by Bradley from a screenplay he wrote with Josh Singer.
The film hit theatres in a limited release on November 22, followed by its December 20 release on the Netflix streaming service.
The amazing reception brought Bernstein’s three children – Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Maria Felicia Bernstein – to tears.
Bradley’s transformation into the legendary composer Leonard was no small feat, taking five hours to complete.
‘The last stage – he was covered pretty much everywhere, the bodysuit and arms — that took over 5 hours,’ makeup artist Kazu Hiro told the audience at the film’s New York Film Festival screening, per EW.
The actors prosthetic nose sparked online chatter, with some calling out the actor/director for playing to ‘Jewface’ stereotypes with the exaggerated facial feature and the casting of a non-Jewish actor in a Jewish role.
Double Oscar winner Kazu, who previously transformed Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, said of the storm: ‘I wasn’t expecting that to happen. I feel sorry that I hurt some people’s feelings.’
He added: ‘My goal, and Bradley’s goal, was to portray Lenny as authentic as possible. Lenny had a really iconic look that everybody knows – theres so many pictures out there because he’s photogenic too – such a great person and inspired so many people.
‘So we wanted to respect the look too, on the inside. So that’s why we did several different tests and went through lots of decisions, and that was the outcome in the movie.’
Bernstein’s children later defended makeup artist Kazu Hiro saying to Vanity Fair: ‘It’s just such an annoying distraction. The people who were waiting to get mad about something were just waiting to pounce.’
She added: ‘It just made us gasp at what they were able to achieve. He (Hiro) would send us photographs on his phone, and some of them were so spot on that we would think, Oh, come on now, he just sneaked in a picture of our dad.’
Jamie added about Cooper’s performance: ‘His energy was so similar to our dad’s, and his way of being in the world and relating to people reminded us more and more of our dad, and we began to see how right he was for the role in ways that wouldn’t even have occurred to us at first.’
Jamie plus siblings Alexander and Nina earlier released a statement which ran: ‘Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father.
‘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. 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.’
By: LAURA PARKIN
Originally published: Daily Mail
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