Bradley Cooper Says He's Spending Thanksgiving with Leonard Bernstein's Children After Playing Him in Maestro

The actor and director will visit the family home in Connecticut, where they shot some of the scenes from the movie

Bradley Cooper, who plays Leonard Bernstein in his film Maestro, revealed that he will be spending part of the Thanksgiving weekend with the late composer’s children.

The actor and director, 48, shared his vacation plans during an interview with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday.

“We’re going to Jersey, and then we’re going to Fairfield, Connecticut to spend it with the Bernsteins.”

“Children”, he further specified with whom he was seeing, noting that “in that house” they were shooting scenes for the film. In fact, the family even let Cooper wear his father’s dressing gown for those scenes.

Bradley Cooper on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ November 21, 2023

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

Per DiversityJamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein were simply “in awe” of Cooper’s performance.

“It took our breath away, it made us gasp,” Jamie told the news outlet at the film’s North American premiere at the New York Film Festival. “We literally opened our doors to Bradley and his team.”

“I’ve always been in love with conducting — fake conducting, as a kid,” Cooper admitted to Colbert of his “hundreds of hours of conducting in his room,” cartoons like Tom and Jerry, So his fascination as an adult is real. He said he devoted six years to preparing for the role, studying Bernstein’s work and spending time with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

“His music was nuclear,” Cooper marveled of his work.

Jamie Bernstein, Nina Bernstein Simmons and Alexander Bernstein at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2023 in Italy.

Kate Green for Netflix

Bradley Cooper portrays the life and loves of Leonard Bernstein in an emotional novel Maestro Trailer

Bernstein, born in Massachusetts in 1918, was the first US-born conductor to lead a major American symphony orchestra.

The Harvard-educated talent, who has won 16 Grammy Awards, seven Emmys and two Tonys, has also written several pieces of classical music, films, including On the waterfront and hosted the CBS series Youth concerts for years. He died in 1990.

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Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in ‘The Maestro’.

Jason McDonald/Netflix

Maestro True story: All about Leonard Bernstein, played by Bradley Cooper, and his complicated love life

Netflix released a trailer for Maestro in October. Carey Mulligan, 38, plays Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre.

In the teaser, viewers see Bernstein as an older man, recalling his relationship with Montealegre and her advice on how to approach his music. The footage alternates between black-and-white and color scenes, depicting Leonard and Felicia’s meeting and love, Bernstein’s rise to world-renowned conductor — and Felicia’s realization that Leonard is leading a gay double life.

The film follows the couple’s romance, which lasted from 1951 until her death in 1978. The official logline for the film describes Maestro as “a sublime and fearless love story that chronicles the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegra Cohn Bernstein.”

“It wasn’t like we were acting, it felt like we were just directing these people, so it was so exciting,” Cooper said in an interview Tuesday, adding, “I mean, I’ll never have an experience like this.”

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Source: HIS Education