Bradley Cooperhas just confirmed that his next project as director — the follow-up to his 2018 smash hitA Star Is Born—will begin filming in May. Cooper made the announcement in a recent discussion with Oscar-winning actorMahershala Alias part of Variety’sActors on Actorsseries.
The film, titledMaestro, is being created for Netflix and will receive both a theatrical and streaming premiere. The filmwill tell the decades long love story ofLeonard Bernstein, the legendary conductor and composer, andFelicia Montealegre, Bernstein’s wife who was also a film and theater actress. Bradley Cooper will star as Bernstein, withCarey Mulliganas Montealegre. Originally,Steven Spielbergwas attached to directMaestro, with Cooper taking only the lead role as Bernstein. However, after coming off of his success withA Star Is Born, a film that follows the intersecting relationship of a woman whose is star on the rise and a man whose career is in a downward spiral, Cooper’s interest in writing and directing was piqued, ultimately resulting in him taking the helm of the new project.
Of the decision to switch directors, Cooper said that he 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?'” He continued, “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.”
RELATED:Bradley Cooper Reveals Moment When Steven Spielberg Hired Him to Direct ‘Maestro’
Cooper also explained in his conversation with Ali how the project struck him on a personal level:
“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 eight. 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.”
Cooper now seeks to translate this fascination with the craft into film. Since filming is set to begin in May of this year, we can’t expect to get a glimpse ofMaestroanytime soon. The film is expected to be released both to theaters and Netflix sometime in 2023. Until then, fans can watch the whole conversation between Cooper and Ali viaVariety.
