How Bradley Cooper Transformed Into Leonard Bernstein for Maestro: 5 Hours of Makeup, Years of Research (Exclusive)

Bradley Cooper tried his best to resemble the famous musical genius Leonard Bernstein Maestro.

As Bernstein’s daughter Jamie, the oldest of his three children, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, “We had no idea that Bradley had this level of intensity and dedication to the cause when he got hold of her. There are even certain moments in the film when in motion, where he looks so exactly like our dad that it takes our breath away.”

Cooper, 48, worked closely with makeup artist Kazu Hiro (who won an Oscar for transforming Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill in The darkest hour) to transform into the former conductor and music director of the New York Philharmonic.

Hiro designed four sets of prosthetics and two bodysuits to portray Bernstein from the beginning of his career in 1943 to his 70s. (He died at the age of 72 in 1990.)

“All in all, I made 137 individual pieces, from small to large,” Hiro tells PEOPLE.

Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro.

Jason McDonald/Netflix

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In order for Cooper’s voice to mimic Bernstein’s more nasal-sounding voice, Hiro constructed a nose plug for the actor to wear that changed his intonations and the shape of his nose.

“Bradley’s transparency and relentless pursuit of perfection was awe-inspiring,” says Hiro.

While Cooper faced criticism early on for using a prosthetic nose to play the conductor, who was Jewish, Bernstein’s children quickly released a statement saying they were “perfectly fine” with the makeup and that “our dad would have been fine with it also.”

Cooper, who also co-wrote and directed Maestro, turned to Oscar-winning costume designer Mark Bridges to outfit his real-life character. Bridges created looks ranging from double-breasted suits to turtlenecks, sometimes recreating outfits from Bernstein photographs. “It looked so fantastic, and if it works, don’t fix it,” Bridges jokes.

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Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan in Maestro.

Courtesy of Netflix

During the long process of making the film, Cooper was in constant contact with Bernstein’s children – Jamie, 71, Alexander, 68, and Nina, 61 – to make sure he was on track to capture their father.

“The way he embraced us going into this project — he was so open-hearted,” says Jamie. “We ended up feeling like we could trust him.”

Maestrowhich also stars Carey Mulligan, is now in select theaters before streaming on Netflix on December 20.

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Source: HIS Education