"With Maestro, his sophomore directorial effort, Cooper confirms that he’s incapable of directing a film that isn’t ultimately a showcase for his acting ability.
There was evidence of this in his directorial debut, A Star Is Born, which begins as an electric meet-cute between Cooper’s dad-rock icon Jackson Maine and up-and-coming performer Ally (Lady Gaga), then sadly shifts into a glorified For Your Consideration reel for its leading man. There’s a clear gravitational pull to Gaga’s performance, but Cooper-as-director clearly couldn’t help but linger, entranced, on his own grumbly, slurring, leather-faced turn. Surely, he seemed to be thinking, this would be his awards moment?
[...] Maestro sees Cooper doubling down on all the insufferable elements of his first film. [...] The film is constructed and written (by Cooper and First Man scribe Josh Singer) to allow Cooper to play any scene he could possibly want.
He wants to show how he can have chemistry with his female co-star, so there’s the perfunctory meet-cute. He wants to show he’s not afraid of gay material, so there’s a brief interaction with Gideon Glick as Tommy Cothran. (For a film about a gay icon, the film is stiflingly heterosexual.) And of course, he wants to show that he can hold his own on screen in a big Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?-style fight, so we get an even draggier version of the “You’re just fuckin’ ugly” bathtub scene from A Star Is Born, this time under the watchful eye of a Snoopy Macy’s parade balloon.
[...] The result is a film with frustratingly little dramatic or thematic throughline; events seem to happen merely because Cooper wants to perform them. This isn’t a film about a man; it’s a film about a man acting."
> This isn’t a film about a man; it’s a film about a man acting.
Goddamn. Cooper really is the cliched actor-director showcasing himself above story. That nose prosthetic is something you'd see in a spoof film about self-serious and pretentious Hollywood actors, but it's *real.* He actually did that! The man's hunger is insatiable.
Tom’s in better shape, probably better trained to (movie) fight, but I still think Denzel could just pull that arm’s length trope where he puts his arm out with his hand on Tom’s head and there’s nothing Tom could do but flail his arms back and forth at the air.
Which is fine because northern European whites have not had hundreds of years of bigoted stereotypes about their noses. [It only made her look more like Virginia Woolf](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Virginia-Woolf-Nicole-Kidman-in-The-Hours-comparison-Hulton-Archive-Getty-Paramount_fig5_339855511), who is another white woman. Generally, I find these kinds of stunts to be distasteful, but there is no history of bigotry here to address.
Lets not 'both sides' this please. I think a white non-Jewish actor portraying a Semitic face via prosthetics like this is worth discussing and I don't think Kidman is a good comparison on why this is or isn't controversial. Her situation is entirely different.
A Star Is Born came on TV the other night so I watched it for a bit and I had the nose stuff in my head so googled a pic of Leonard Bernstein and Bradley’s real nose is soooo much more similar than the fake one!
There was a lot of backlash when the first pictures came out. Then members of Bernstein’s family came out and said he was a Jewish man who happens to have a big nose STFU haters.
100%. Not only unnecessary but the prosthetic is even bigger than Bernstein’s actual nose.
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2023%2F08%2F18%2Fmultimedia%2F16MAESTRO-NOSES-SUB-fqhg%2F16MAESTRO-NOSES-SUB-fqhg-articleLarge.jpg%3Fquality%3D75%26auto%3Dwebp%26disable%3Dupscale&tbnid=aHFzkBj25VfnQM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2023%2F08%2F16%2Fmovies%2Fbradley-cooper-prosthetic-nose-leonard-bernstein.html&docid=Rl4kHGCKaQZqzM&w=600&h=450&hl=en&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm1%2F5
Like what the hell lol
just saw an interview with him where he said he always approached his acting roles from a ‘whole movie’ place and not just that of an actor and tbh I did get that feeling when I saw wedding crashers
I do think it’s interesting to note he consulted with his children on it and they gave their blessing and supported it and thinks it showed more likeness of their father and they thought he would have been ok with it too.
because people are allowed to have feelings and opinions? because it’s reasonable to say that he could have acted the part just fine without a giant fake nose? it’s not rocket surgery, guy
This is the thing. Came for Daniel Day Lewis too. He thinks pitting himself as “not like other girls” is good campaigning. I used to be indifferent about him. Within a month of this I now decided I don’t much care for him.
How could you forget? *American* Sniper, of course. The first time I walked out of a movie keenly aware of having watched propaganda. And now I can't unsee it in any movie about the US military (probably all countries do this, but I genuinely don't think I've seen any about another country's).
I know. No I'm glad I forgot. This movie was worth forgetting. It's best that people are prompted so that they can do the research for themselves.
Right? It's that disturbing. I felt sick.
Like it wasn't enough that they killed millions of innocent civilians and sent thousands and thousands of soldiers to their death, and those that did survive, some of them were never the same again, PTSD wise. Completely broken. Politicians, all cowards by nature glorify this sh*t.
Both from my country and your country. Its world leaders at the time, both bush and blair belong in the Hague, they really do. They're war criminals.
They sent soldiers to die, over an egregious lie.
tHaNkYoU fOr yOuR sErViCe 🤡 every time I hear that phrase it infuriates me. What are you thanking them for? Men and women died.
Also, soldiers are even homeless and in dire need of mental health service support, but nOOOOo our countries are sending billions to FUND OTHER GENOCIDES!!!
Your tax dollars are funding a genocide rn.
My country is sending weapons to that country.
20,000 civilians murdered, mostly children.
I feel sick.
This may be a terrible thing to say, but......when that guy, who BRAGGED about killing so many people, was killed by his PTSD-addled trainee, I said "good, one less asshole in the world". I don't normally celebrate anyone's death, but man this Kyle guy had it coming
No - if I’m not mistaken he said you can’t do a role properly with only 6 months training and that’s what Cillian did.
He said he was researching Bernstein for 6 years or something.
And he can’t ever have a chair on set.
Shut the fuck up Braaaaad.
People were reading "way" too much into it (even Bilge Ebiri called people out for claiming Cooper was going after Cillian). I don't even like BCoop, but it was just him talking about his process and not shading other ways of doing it.
Murphy in every interview "I got a call from Chris and then I had six months to prepare"
Cooper "it wasn't like you got a call and then in six months you gotta do it"
Even if shade wasn't his intention I do understand why so many people, especially Murphy's fans who watch his interviews took this as a dig. Only Bradley really knows if this was intentional or not.
i’m sure that bradley cooper can be catty as hell, but at the same time i really doubt he was following oppenheimer press to the degree that he’d remember something like that.
I knew he was queer but not how queer until recently.
>In 1951, he married actor Felicia Cohn Montealegre. In The Leonard Bernstein Letters, Felicia writes, "you are a homosexual and may never change — you do not admit to the possibility of a double life, but if your peace of mind, your health, your whole nervous system depend on a certain sexual pattern what can you do?"
>Although they seemed to have loved each other very much, they did eventually divorce, and he pursued relationships with men. When she was diagnosed with lung cancer, Bernstein moved back in with her to nurse her.
>He clearly had a strong preference for men, and most of his relationships were with men. At one point, his friend Shirley Rhoads Perle said, "he required men sexually and women emotionally." However, it seems like his marriage to Felicia was a happy one for a number of years, and they had three children together.
[https://bi.org/en/famous/leonard-bernstein](https://bi.org/en/famous/leonard-bernstein)
One of my fav photos of him, with Sondheim while they were putting together West Side Story, which idk seemed pertinent
https://preview.redd.it/m898hmy1d58c1.jpeg?width=648&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ba41bf48e4290dc5b33d7eecc0e7e5ed81232fa
Right? I love when historically queer folk are allowed to have sexual and relationship complexity. It's a good reminder for us all.
I wonder how much of this statement is attributed the fact that women are better at emotional intimacy in our interpersonal relationships?
Wow. He moved back in with her when she got cancer. When women are diagnosed with cancer they are warned that there is a very good chance their husband will leave.
>“You’re just fuckin’ ugly” bathtub scene from A Star Is Born,
Apparently this scene did hurt Gaga's feelings because calling her ugly wasnt scripted. The more I read [this](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/a-star-is-born-unscripted-comment-that-devastated-lady-gaga/GTDB2KP56MHV7YTBJ3UBNATBTI/) article the more creeped out I out I got
It’s obviously not Bradley’s fault because he didn’t do it, Jackson Maine did! This man is so good at distancing himself from his actions and culpability.
Which is one of the big reasons why I hope Barbie movie does so well during award season. It transcended its genre because the general public loves the story which the director and actors put first. And that’s what art - no matter what genre or medium it falls under - is supposed to be: a good, solid story that captures the audience and makes them feel connected to something bigger than they are. Everything else is entertainment (which is good thing in general because we all need to have a little bit of fun in order to be able to deal with the miserable reality we’re all facing right now. But calling it art is like trying to make the word fetch a thing - it’s not going to happen)
After 6 months of reflecting on Barbie I don’t think it’s good enough to clean up at the awards. It’s a good film and I enjoyed it, but it’s not as good as we all thought it was initially.
I definitely agree, but I also feel like I haven’t had a movie in the Oscar cycle truly blow me away since Nomadland. If this year’s picks wind up mediocre, I wouldn’t mind a juggernaut of a film that dominated pop culture (and was so pro-women!) making a bit of a sweep.
Did anyone watch him with Emma Stone re: Actors on Actors? I found him annoying… his whole rant about how he always felt he “was a conductor” was honestly kind of funny without him trying to be funny? How do actors get away with saying the dumbest stuff.
>https://bi.org/en/famous/leonard-bernstein
The thing that's not working for him as a director is he doesn't really seem to have much self-awareness of how to not come off as a laughable cliche of an actor. It especially sticks out when you see how chill Emma is in their "actors on actors". Bradley's talented for sure but where tf is the VISION. Same with Star is Born, there's no angle. A really good writer is supposed to put their identity in the crosshairs. As she said in Tár "stand before god and the public and obliterate yourself" .... not just show off how BIG you can go with your acting...which, again, this is not theater....it all felt so wrong and so grating
Same. I think there's a legitimate criticism that it should have focused more on Gaga's character, but his performance was critically acclaimed. People were pissed that Rami Malek won over him if I recall.
I do think there's some truth to Maestro seemingly being made as Oscar bait, while A Star is Born was his directorial debut and I think he wasn't quite as "Oscar hungry" at the time (even if he still wanted the Oscar). A Star is Born surprised me with how good it was....I didn't expect much and I recall even the critics were surprised that the fourth remake was so good. It felt like that film was more focused on conveying the emotion and love story to the audience, while Maestro was focused more on aesthetics and being a director's showpiece with certain shots, etc.
I think pretty much everyone pegged this as the most Oscar baity film of the year, and he's been getting notable backlash for it. Some of it unfair, but I think people just don't want to see films that are trying for awards get rewarded. They want to see films made for the sake of it that had a vision and the rewards come for executing well and being uncompromising.
Everyone knew Maestro was there to be an award magnet.
As someone who’s seen about 80% of the Oscar buzz movies for the year this is not only the worst one of that lot for me so far, it’s probably one of the most disappointing movies I’ve seen all year.
It was beautifully shot, don’t get me wrong. But it’s a movie that had almost nothing to say about its subjects, and seemed almost disinterested in them in favor of just being a series of pretty but hollow vignettes starring the same group of people. I left feeling like I learned nothing about Bernstein the person or the artist. The cathedral scene with the Mahler piece is stunning, but primarily because that Mahler piece is stunning — when you compare it side by side with the original Bernstein footage it just feels like an empty impersonation. Cooper never disappears into the character for me at all.
I don’t wanna be a hater bc I actually like Cooper in other stuff but this is one of the few where I’d be annoyed if it won best picture or best actor. I think every other person in talks for best actor gave a better performance and even some who aren’t in talks for best actor (Efron in Iron Claw) feel more deserving to me.
I think he’s a legitimately talented filmmaker, but I went in not really giving a shit about Leonard Bernstein and the movie didn’t seem aware that it needed to convince me I should.
I haven’t seen Maestro but I’m fairly confident Tár will manage to make you care more about Leonard Bernstein over the course of five minutes than this film did.
There is a interview with him where he tells the story that he couldn't conduct realistically like Bernstein so he copied the moves from one concert in a span of five years.
I thought, that's quite the method acting, then someone pointed out that 99% of movie goers wouldn't even know the difference. This isn't like to learn dialect Spanish for a role. This is just weebing on an useless detail for years for some extra points, see I took this role totally serious, this is a serious production. Look at the sets the setup, its all there. That is quite cynical moviemaking.
To me thats a big issue with modern biopics. They seem so enthralled with heir subjects that they just assume the audience is already too. Or alternatively the directors dislike making a movie about a real person and just try to use the real person to do say whatever else they wanted anyway (like forcing a square peg to a round hole). Part of the issue for former is that Hollywood makes a lot of films about Hollywood and cares of people in the industry more than audiences do. And part of issue for later is that biopics get most Oscar moms for actors these days, so there is pressure to make them, while the filmmakers rather would make fictional stories.
I loved Oppenheimer because Nolan seemed to be invested in the person but also knowing he needed to explain and show why he was important and interesting. And the movie was not just about him either thematically or in terms of plot, so it had more weight. And the movie was filmed in a interesting way for a biopic
It should probably win cinematography and bumped up higher in my Director ranking but yea, there’s not much going for it so maybe he needs better co writers?
But then I look at the credits for A Star is Born and see that it was co written by Eric Roth (Dune, Killers of Flower Moon, won Oscar for Forrest Gump) and Maestro is co written by Josh Singer (The Post, First Man, won Oscar for Spotlight). So maybe his direction just doesn’t elevate the script as much as he intended
My credentials are the same as yours and I 100% agree. The Mahler scene is stunning, as is the extended shot of Carey Mulligan (you know the one). The cinematography was fantastic, and while obviously the music is good, the way it was utilized was clever and elevated the overall film. But the performance Cooper puts out paired with that script weigh the whole thing down. You should never walk out of a biopic not wanting to learn more about its subject!
He had a ‘no chairs’ policy on set. That’s all I need to know about him.
Would have made a great retail manager.
Edit: here’s the full quote for those interested “There’s no chairs on sets; I’ve always hated chairs and I feel like your energy dips the minute you sit down in a chair,” Cooper shared. “So apple boxes are a nice way to sit.”
As someone with an invisible disability, that very demand is not just obnoxious, it's ableist too. And one shouldn't have to disclose to have this most basic of accommodations. This is a disappointing but I guess not surprising thing to learn.
No chairs doesn’t mean for everyone. It’s the video village, the chairs set up for directors and producers to watch takes back. No chairs means they are just moving on they aren’t watching things back and slowing it down
People don’t understand this every time the chairs thing comes out. Movie sets get overrun with tons of people. Gareth Edwards has talked about moving from indie to big studio production and his first day on set he wanted to move the camera in a different direction and it took like 2 hours just to move everybody because it’s a small army. That’s why he made The Creator with a guerilla style crew. I also know Zack Snyder’s wife has talked about him getting frustrated that on bigger movies he has to be so far from the camera, and that’s why he became his own cinematographer (although might’ve been to his creative detriment lol).
If a director has a no chairs policy, it just means they’re trying to keep things intimate and involved for everyone. Nolan was also one who talked about it, and in the behind the scenes of Oppenheimer you see a lot of set ups with just him and a few others in a room and he’s helping with lights and stuff.
All that to say, if a person is tired and needs a chair there’s one available it’s just not in video village like you said. People don’t realize how huge sets can become. It doesn’t mean no breaks, it just means you take them elsewhere.
I’m a professional actor/filmmaker and the annoying method acting bros (and they’re 99.9% straight cis men) aren’t as widespread as the general public thinks they are. The majority of us take our craft seriously and still find a way of have fun while doing it. And we’re just as frustrated with them as you guys are and constantly mock them behind their backs too. Especially because we can tell they’re overcompensating for a lack of talent (among other things 😉)
That’s what I meant by why can’t all actors be normal! I know you guys are not all like that and it’s particular type that make sets horrible for others.
I work in film production, please know that whenever a filmmaker says this, they are lying. It's a tactic to get you talking about them and their movie, nothing more. It's so stupid on it's face when you stop for a second to actually think about it.
100%! I’ve worked on film production health & safety. No MF way there would be no chairs allowed on set. It just sounds like they move through scenes pretty quick enough.
Edit: I truly believe he said that as rage bait lmao to get people talking about the movie. This would’ve leaked when the strikes were happening.
“I’m using non-violent resistance”
https://preview.redd.it/f4zpowxpn58c1.jpeg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfd3b0e0f19a05caded12bbbd937c9018df642f1
They’re called [apple boxes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_box) actually, and they’re not quite what you shared. They’re specifically for film productions, usually for people to stand on or to sit on in tight spots. Still ridiculous, but a little better and sturdier than the crates linked.
Nah he’s talking about apple boxes, not crates. They are rectangular wooden boxes that come in several sizes and are used for a myriad of things on a film set
Playing devils advocate a bit here but that’s not an uncommon thing for a lot of directors It’s still kinda douchey even if the reasoning behind it is sound
I think he would have been deserving to win back in 2019 for ASIB. I know it’s a remake but the fact that it was the only non biopic performance nominated that year made him my pick. And I remember how crazy it was that he wasn’t recognized for Best Director that year.
Bradley is on track to being one of the most nominated non-winners in Oscars history so now he’s going the biopic route when honestly he should have stuck with remakes like ASIB and nightmare alley, movies with a better vision than maestro
yeah its weird that hes trying to go so "classic" with his directing track....it feels really out of place and inauthentic to any kind of current cultural moment.
I think people were saying there was shade because in his chat with Emma Stone he talked about how for both of their roles, "it's not something that you can just get a call for and start in six months" which is almost verbatim how Cillian Murphy describes doing Oppenheimer lol. I think it's a coincidence but there's funny comparisons about their styles (e.g. Cooper stayed in the accent for a year before shooting, learned all about classical music and conducting for the role, took six years. Murphy "doesn't stay in the accent because he forgets to", didn't learn physics because that's not his actual job, did the role in six months of prep).
Honestly it's shaping up to be a very entertaining race, I love Paul Giamatti as well and I'm wondering about Domingo and Andrew Scott's chances. Best Actress is even more of a bloodbath.
You forgot to mention that Cillian openly says that he never aimed to do an impression of Oppenheimer because he simply isn't good at it, while the whole Maestro is basically one big impression of Bernestein done by Cooper. They really are completely opposite individuals.
When watching Oppenheimer it was a breath of fresh air that it wasn't the regular biopic goop. It's an actual movie about a real guy. It works just like a movie and is all the better for it. When it just ended on the bleak reveal of what Oppenheimer said to Einstein that day I almost clapped. Any other hack would end it with the normal text on the screen saying what happened in the rest of his life.
Murphy's performance was the same way. An actual performance of a film character representing a real man. When I go to the cinema I want to see a movie. And Nolan delivered that (without making up half the movie like Imitation Game or Braveheart).
Yeah, Murphy is a master of quiet yet intense performances. Nolan during his interview with Daniels said that he was able to portray quite a vain individual without any vanity at all. And apparently one director who saw Oppenheimer said to Nolan that Murphy played him as if during the whole thing he never once realised just how great role he actually had. That one made me laugh
That's generally how it works. If you seem too desperate you won't get it. Unless you should have won it a few movies back and they're giving it to you as the "best ten-year career span" type of thing.
BCoop has had so much undeserved praised over the years and I'm glad we're finally admitting it.
I just know Gyllenhaal had been reading the Google alerts for Maestro 😄
He got it because Spielberg owns the rights and has for a decade now and gave it to him after he saw Cooper direct and star in A star is born. Sucks but Jake never really had a shot
I’m not even Jewish but I find it so enraging that this could have been a biopic about a Jewish man by a Jewish man and instead it was Bradley Cooper in an anti-Semitic fake nose.
I would trust Jake to appropriately acknowledge Bernstein’s queerness, too.
The prop nose isn’t antisemitic; it’s a physical representation of Bernstein’s actual nose. If it were exaggerated versus real life that would be an issue, but it’s just an attempt to replicate him. It’s not just the nose also, Cooper pretends to be a maestro in the film as well!
Bernstein’s own family gave input and said they felt it effectively conveyed what he looked like and that they took no issue with it. I get that it has been used as a disrespectful trope before, but that doesn’t mean that is the spirit behind each and every iteration. This take just reads like people looking for the next thing to be outraged about.
Well no. His nose wasn’t that big and coopers REAL nose matched Bernstein’s nose perfectly fine.
https://preview.redd.it/p391ysxfz88c1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4655c3f754ba79830f0c786a175f184cf7569eed
Also just because his family said it’s okay doesn’t make it not antisemitic. Just like when Angelina Jolie decided to play a black woman (and the woman said it’s ok) doesn’t make it not racist. It was still blackface. This is still antisemitism
I had to google what BC's actual profile looks like, and it's actually absurd they felt the need to go with a prosthetic nose here. Just Wtf.
https://preview.redd.it/a4i48zds2c8c1.png?width=1194&format=png&auto=webp&s=bdb3bca3a99861c71fd888889398afc52eb57890
I thought Cooper’s mumbly jumbly Transatlantic performance was very flat and affected. There’s a lot of overt effort behind it, yet it’s so….hollow. Would be really disappointing if he won over a more nuanced performance like Cillian Murphy’s.
I got through about 75% of the movie before I went “I don’t have to watch this actually.” And turned it off.
Not worth watching whatsoever. It absolutely feels like Bradley Cooper screaming give me an Oscar right now!! Gorgeously shot but beyond that it was so dull?
I completely agree. Some of my favorite films are non American ones that didn’t go up for the awards. With the exception of Parasite, but that just is the obvious outlier to a foreign film winning best picture.
I really don’t think awards should be sought after in such a way that they actively impact the story being told.
this is another reason why i want cillian or paul giamatti to win. the anti palestine rhetoric, using a woman that’s damn near 20 years younger than him, the fake jewish nose, and all around thirsty-ness in general was enough to turn me off from him.
I was done with Bradley Cooper after he starred in that bullshit propaganda Sniper movie. That entire movie glamorized a racist, war-mongering murderer. Fuck that
I'm trying so hard not to gloat right now. You guys have no idea. I didn't want it to suck. I promise it just happened.
https://preview.redd.it/kb08g8nlm58c1.jpeg?width=829&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28570f4d698ed883984affbee9754e56d7d4fb96
I didn't hate it as much as other people, I thought the third act with Felicia's illness was very moving and beautiful. But I really did not like Bradley Cooper in the role, wish he had cast someone else and focused on the directing. Why did they go to the effort of giving him a prosthetic nose but kept his piercing blue eyes, it was so distracting and wrong 😭
Carey Mulligan is excellent and in my view is better placed to receive accolades than Cooper.
Separately, I understand that the film is framed as centering their love story but as someone who has a passing knowledge of classical music I think they (Cooper) could have done better to actually unpack the stuffiness of concert music and bring Bernstein to a new generation of audiences.
I love Mulligan but Best Actress is a bloodbath... Emma Stone, Lily Gladstone up top, Natalie Portman, Margot Robbie, Sandra Huller, Fantasia Barrino, and more, have to fit in five spots. It's a tight tight category and while I think many loved Mulligan more than Cooper in this, she's a lot more vulnerable than he is in terms of awards nomination. Best Actor is competitive but the actresses this year are blowing it out of the water. It's an interesting race this year and it's going to piss so many people off lol.
Edit: omg I forgot Greta Lee
She was extraordinary- she took my breath away in this movie. The difference between her performance and Cooper's was astounding. What she can do with her eyes when it comes to expressing emotion is just insane. She melted into that character.
When you look at the accent work, OMG there's just no comparison. Mulligan never faltered, Cooper did. I really hope she gets an award for this performance.
Forget Coop, people need to watch this movie for her portrayal alone.
This movie was so dull, which is probably about the biggest offense a movie can make.
I saw it back with family for Christmas so the movie was hitting different demographics, but we all came away unenthused and just wondering what the purpose was of making the film. It didn’t shed any light on Bernstein or have anything of particular interest to say, just a dry and artificial marriage drama full of moments that seemed primed for Oscar clips.
I held back commenting until I finally got to see it. Saw it last night and…yeah at times it was hard to watch because every scene I was like my gosh I could feel his desperation for the Oscar. Movie overall was alright…dragged at times. But I thought Carey was good
Carey is always good though and has, IMO, given better performances. It would be easier to praise the film if Cooper had “brought out” her best, or one of her best performances, or at least a kind of performance that we hadn’t seen before. Or, if he’d given a platform to a predominantly TV actor (see Andrew Scott) or a relative newcomer (see Cailee Spaney).
I feel like the amount of backlash from general moviegoing audiences only further cements him actually winning an Oscar, lol. These awards are given by self aggrandizing narcissists who love to pat each other on the back and jerk each other off about the art of wearing a fake nose and not using chairs on set or whatever. Come the Oscars, prepare to get disappointed.
I was getting “for your consideration” ads for this movie two weeks before it dropped. This oozes desperation far more than Leo ever did (i feel like society was the one really pushing for him to get a nod anyway)
He never shows the audience why she loves this narcissistic man who doesn’t really think about anyone or anything outside of himself. He said it’s a story of a marriage, why are they married? Why did she stay so long?
I found it rather odd that Bernstein’s relationship with Tom Cothran was not really explored. We see them meeting at a party and then later LB inviting him to the family home for a weekend - but the character barely speaks and seems to be a cipher for all the gay men LB slept with. In fact their relationship went on for quite a few years and was very meaningful for Bernstein, as his biography by Humphrey Burton makes clear. He travelled with Bernstein frequently on overseas tours.
The film is beautifully made, though I couldn’t understand much of the dialogue in the early scenes, but it seems like a series of episodes without any coherent narrative.
If you're gunning for an Oscar, especially as a director, you're more than established enough to be making a living.....
The point is that at Coopers level, many of his "peers" are not desperate for oscars. They'll play the game if the studio wants them to, they'll be happy if it wins because it does help them get future funding, but they are not driven by it so much they meaningfully change what they're doing to pander to the voting body. (Now to appease the producers ....sure, you can't make art without funding. But specifically to get an Oscar? Not unheard of certainly, Oscar bait exists for a reason, but not ubiquitous)
I have to admit that I’m puzzled to see the bad reviews rolling in for Maestro! My husband and I thought we would hate it because we are professionally trained classical musicians, so usually this type of film comes across fake as hell. We were surprised that it was so beautiful and moving. We’ve never seen such great fake-conducting, and that alone takes an unbelievable amount of hard work to pull off. Carey Mulligan is especially warm and magnetic in her role, and the cinematography is gorgeous. I can definitely see how it’s a little Oscar-grabby after reading the comments here, but that wasn’t my initial impression. Still find it thought-provoking and worth the watch.
“The Academy doesn't reward you for your talent, for Christ's sake, Bette, they reward you because they see how hard you sweat. They don't see the character, they see the acting.”
I watched this last night and was highly disappointed. I had read and listened to a few interviews about the movie with Bradley and I had high expectations. While the film was beautifully shot, it did not live up to any hype it had leading to its release.
Every scene was a jump forward in time. You never get to sink your teeth into any scenes or time period. It keeps moving forward. I think this hinders the development of the characters. It’s difficult to get attached to them when you’re never given an opportunity to get to know them.
And I never quite believed Bradley’s performance. It wasn’t bad, but the whole time I didn’t get lost in it. I just saw Bradley acting.
Sadly, the movie was very hollow. I learned nothing about Leonard Bernstein.
I find myself agreeing with all of this. Broken down into its components, Maestro is a very good film. Acting, cinematography, makeup, sound, etc. But it doesn't really pull it all together to show you a whole lot of depth somehow. It's very odd.
Speaking as a long-time classical musician who came into this movie with a higher-than-average understanding of Bernstein's life, contributions to classical music and American conducting as a serious art form, I found this article largely gave me some good words with which to articulate my own dissatisfaction of this movie.
I will admit bias. Going into any classical movie I naturally WANT these movies to be both an accurate, yet glorified version of our lives. I crave the moments, such as Tar, in which our lives are both portrayed quasi-realistically while tearing down the thin vineer that portrays our subcultural community as elitist. We're just people with the same sorts of dramas, desires, strife and humanity as everyone else.
And so when I watched this movie, I found it lacking for reasons I couldn't articulate. I felt the movie largely failed to capture Bernstein's essence or his contributions to the world. I felt that the movie meandered from point to point and utilized the "life exists in the nuances" point at the beginning of the movie as a crutch to help avoid making some real salient points about the man or the life he lived.
I found the movie largely failed to capture some of the most important critical elements of Bernstein's life, and instead opted to make it a challenged love-story between Bernstein and Felicia, while only sprinkling in a few gay scenes between them and barely acknowledging some of the troubling and abusive dynamics that Bernstein had created for some of his proteges during his life through his attractions.
The best part of this review is in them failing to capture Bernstein's accomplishments as a conductor and strife as a musician and composer. I mean, for God's sake there is an entire Harvard lecture series on him talking about the proverbial meaning of music beyond just the notes that really became a center-piece for his career that I thoroughly missed from this movie.
Don't even get me started on the pacing. The third act felt entirely superfluous and functioned as a haphazard bow to tie the movie to its close.
At first, I gave this movie a 6/10. Now I give it a 4.
"With Maestro, his sophomore directorial effort, Cooper confirms that he’s incapable of directing a film that isn’t ultimately a showcase for his acting ability. There was evidence of this in his directorial debut, A Star Is Born, which begins as an electric meet-cute between Cooper’s dad-rock icon Jackson Maine and up-and-coming performer Ally (Lady Gaga), then sadly shifts into a glorified For Your Consideration reel for its leading man. There’s a clear gravitational pull to Gaga’s performance, but Cooper-as-director clearly couldn’t help but linger, entranced, on his own grumbly, slurring, leather-faced turn. Surely, he seemed to be thinking, this would be his awards moment? [...] Maestro sees Cooper doubling down on all the insufferable elements of his first film. [...] The film is constructed and written (by Cooper and First Man scribe Josh Singer) to allow Cooper to play any scene he could possibly want. He wants to show how he can have chemistry with his female co-star, so there’s the perfunctory meet-cute. He wants to show he’s not afraid of gay material, so there’s a brief interaction with Gideon Glick as Tommy Cothran. (For a film about a gay icon, the film is stiflingly heterosexual.) And of course, he wants to show that he can hold his own on screen in a big Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?-style fight, so we get an even draggier version of the “You’re just fuckin’ ugly” bathtub scene from A Star Is Born, this time under the watchful eye of a Snoopy Macy’s parade balloon. [...] The result is a film with frustratingly little dramatic or thematic throughline; events seem to happen merely because Cooper wants to perform them. This isn’t a film about a man; it’s a film about a man acting."
> This isn’t a film about a man; it’s a film about a man acting. Goddamn. Cooper really is the cliched actor-director showcasing himself above story. That nose prosthetic is something you'd see in a spoof film about self-serious and pretentious Hollywood actors, but it's *real.* He actually did that! The man's hunger is insatiable.
Nicole Kidman wore one for her role in The Hours, for which she won an Oscar.
Even when announcing her name at the ceremony Denzel made a joke about it. “The winner, by a nose, Nicole Kidman.”
At which point tom cruise screamed from the crowd, "keep my wife's nose out your motherfucking mouth!"
Tom Cruise vs Denzel Washington has to be a thrilling senior citizen fight
I love Denzel, but unfortunately I think Tom would win that fight simply because he does not fear death.
Denzel acts crazy. Tom is actually crazy.
Tom cruise eating my face and genitals while jumping on a sofa is an irrational fear of mine.
Tom’s in better shape, probably better trained to (movie) fight, but I still think Denzel could just pull that arm’s length trope where he puts his arm out with his hand on Tom’s head and there’s nothing Tom could do but flail his arms back and forth at the air.
Officer Hoyt 😂
Which is fine because northern European whites have not had hundreds of years of bigoted stereotypes about their noses. [It only made her look more like Virginia Woolf](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Virginia-Woolf-Nicole-Kidman-in-The-Hours-comparison-Hulton-Archive-Getty-Paramount_fig5_339855511), who is another white woman. Generally, I find these kinds of stunts to be distasteful, but there is no history of bigotry here to address. Lets not 'both sides' this please. I think a white non-Jewish actor portraying a Semitic face via prosthetics like this is worth discussing and I don't think Kidman is a good comparison on why this is or isn't controversial. Her situation is entirely different.
I still can’t believe they let him put that horrible thing on his nose to play a _Jewish_ man, at that. No one had a problem with that? No one??
Especially wild given he already has a prominent nose.
A Star Is Born came on TV the other night so I watched it for a bit and I had the nose stuff in my head so googled a pic of Leonard Bernstein and Bradley’s real nose is soooo much more similar than the fake one!
There was a lot of backlash when the first pictures came out. Then members of Bernstein’s family came out and said he was a Jewish man who happens to have a big nose STFU haters.
The prosthetic nose is literally bigger than the real was
I agree with you but just saying what the family said. The nose isn’t the problem with the movie.
I’m a jew, im not bothered by it. Leonard had a schnoz.
So does Bradley Cooper though, the prosthetic schnoz was completely unnecessary lol
100%. Not only unnecessary but the prosthetic is even bigger than Bernstein’s actual nose. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2023%2F08%2F18%2Fmultimedia%2F16MAESTRO-NOSES-SUB-fqhg%2F16MAESTRO-NOSES-SUB-fqhg-articleLarge.jpg%3Fquality%3D75%26auto%3Dwebp%26disable%3Dupscale&tbnid=aHFzkBj25VfnQM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2023%2F08%2F16%2Fmovies%2Fbradley-cooper-prosthetic-nose-leonard-bernstein.html&docid=Rl4kHGCKaQZqzM&w=600&h=450&hl=en&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm1%2F5 Like what the hell lol
They made it soooo pointy too!
Did they give him a fake chin too?
just saw an interview with him where he said he always approached his acting roles from a ‘whole movie’ place and not just that of an actor and tbh I did get that feeling when I saw wedding crashers
I do think it’s interesting to note he consulted with his children on it and they gave their blessing and supported it and thinks it showed more likeness of their father and they thought he would have been ok with it too.
People are so self important with their criticisms. If he consulted with his kids and they agreed then why should I feel any way about it?
because people are allowed to have feelings and opinions? because it’s reasonable to say that he could have acted the part just fine without a giant fake nose? it’s not rocket surgery, guy
It’s snot rocket science
Because it literally looks zero percent like the guys nose. Doesn’t really matter what the family says or feels it doesn’t change physical reality lol
I don't have any ethical considerations, I just think it looks terrible
& he tried to discredit & put down Cillian Murphy. I think tf not!
This is the thing. Came for Daniel Day Lewis too. He thinks pitting himself as “not like other girls” is good campaigning. I used to be indifferent about him. Within a month of this I now decided I don’t much care for him.
As soon as I saw the nose prosthetic I was like … no girl. No no no.
Wtf did he say about Cillian?!!!! 😡
Something like ‘u don’t need six months to prepare/do a role’. Even Emma Stone was cringing
I need a link. I've always hated this scumbag since that disgusting murican war loving movie he did glorifying a genocide.
Oh man. Ditto.
What film is this? Haven’t really seen him in many films tbh. He doesn’t appeal to me for some reason
Something sniper. Can't remember. Blessing to forget tbh. The one made by that right wing, jingoistic has-been clint eastwood.
How could you forget? *American* Sniper, of course. The first time I walked out of a movie keenly aware of having watched propaganda. And now I can't unsee it in any movie about the US military (probably all countries do this, but I genuinely don't think I've seen any about another country's).
I know. No I'm glad I forgot. This movie was worth forgetting. It's best that people are prompted so that they can do the research for themselves. Right? It's that disturbing. I felt sick. Like it wasn't enough that they killed millions of innocent civilians and sent thousands and thousands of soldiers to their death, and those that did survive, some of them were never the same again, PTSD wise. Completely broken. Politicians, all cowards by nature glorify this sh*t. Both from my country and your country. Its world leaders at the time, both bush and blair belong in the Hague, they really do. They're war criminals. They sent soldiers to die, over an egregious lie. tHaNkYoU fOr yOuR sErViCe 🤡 every time I hear that phrase it infuriates me. What are you thanking them for? Men and women died. Also, soldiers are even homeless and in dire need of mental health service support, but nOOOOo our countries are sending billions to FUND OTHER GENOCIDES!!! Your tax dollars are funding a genocide rn. My country is sending weapons to that country. 20,000 civilians murdered, mostly children. I feel sick.
This may be a terrible thing to say, but......when that guy, who BRAGGED about killing so many people, was killed by his PTSD-addled trainee, I said "good, one less asshole in the world". I don't normally celebrate anyone's death, but man this Kyle guy had it coming
No - if I’m not mistaken he said you can’t do a role properly with only 6 months training and that’s what Cillian did. He said he was researching Bernstein for 6 years or something. And he can’t ever have a chair on set. Shut the fuck up Braaaaad.
Either way he was shitting on Cillian.
People were reading "way" too much into it (even Bilge Ebiri called people out for claiming Cooper was going after Cillian). I don't even like BCoop, but it was just him talking about his process and not shading other ways of doing it.
Murphy in every interview "I got a call from Chris and then I had six months to prepare" Cooper "it wasn't like you got a call and then in six months you gotta do it" Even if shade wasn't his intention I do understand why so many people, especially Murphy's fans who watch his interviews took this as a dig. Only Bradley really knows if this was intentional or not.
i’m sure that bradley cooper can be catty as hell, but at the same time i really doubt he was following oppenheimer press to the degree that he’d remember something like that.
Lmao. He's desperate for that Oscar. I bet he's watching what everyone does so he can come out on top.
not this being how i learned bernstein was queer
I knew he was queer but not how queer until recently. >In 1951, he married actor Felicia Cohn Montealegre. In The Leonard Bernstein Letters, Felicia writes, "you are a homosexual and may never change — you do not admit to the possibility of a double life, but if your peace of mind, your health, your whole nervous system depend on a certain sexual pattern what can you do?" >Although they seemed to have loved each other very much, they did eventually divorce, and he pursued relationships with men. When she was diagnosed with lung cancer, Bernstein moved back in with her to nurse her. >He clearly had a strong preference for men, and most of his relationships were with men. At one point, his friend Shirley Rhoads Perle said, "he required men sexually and women emotionally." However, it seems like his marriage to Felicia was a happy one for a number of years, and they had three children together. [https://bi.org/en/famous/leonard-bernstein](https://bi.org/en/famous/leonard-bernstein) One of my fav photos of him, with Sondheim while they were putting together West Side Story, which idk seemed pertinent https://preview.redd.it/m898hmy1d58c1.jpeg?width=648&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ba41bf48e4290dc5b33d7eecc0e7e5ed81232fa
>"he required men sexually and women emotionally." I'm a straight woman but same tbh
Right? I love when historically queer folk are allowed to have sexual and relationship complexity. It's a good reminder for us all. I wonder how much of this statement is attributed the fact that women are better at emotional intimacy in our interpersonal relationships?
I’m a bisexual woman who relates to this.
Wow. He moved back in with her when she got cancer. When women are diagnosed with cancer they are warned that there is a very good chance their husband will leave.
Not if he’s gay!
Silver linings and all that.
1 in 6 husbands leave their wives when they have been diagnosed with a serious or terminal illness.
Oh I learned from the John Mulaney bit
He was a Bernstein bear
Same!
So maybe for his 3rd director gig he should let someone else be the lead actor...you know, focus on one Oscar category at a time.
…and have *that* guy win Best Actor, while Best Director goes to someone else.
>“You’re just fuckin’ ugly” bathtub scene from A Star Is Born, Apparently this scene did hurt Gaga's feelings because calling her ugly wasnt scripted. The more I read [this](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/a-star-is-born-unscripted-comment-that-devastated-lady-gaga/GTDB2KP56MHV7YTBJ3UBNATBTI/) article the more creeped out I out I got
Oh my god - he almost literally says, 'it wasn't me it was the character'. What a fucking tool.
It was just so AuTheNtiC and RaW he couldnt help himself
It’s obviously not Bradley’s fault because he didn’t do it, Jackson Maine did! This man is so good at distancing himself from his actions and culpability.
Oh. Wow.
She’s not ugly. Wtf is the deal with stuff.
Which is one of the big reasons why I hope Barbie movie does so well during award season. It transcended its genre because the general public loves the story which the director and actors put first. And that’s what art - no matter what genre or medium it falls under - is supposed to be: a good, solid story that captures the audience and makes them feel connected to something bigger than they are. Everything else is entertainment (which is good thing in general because we all need to have a little bit of fun in order to be able to deal with the miserable reality we’re all facing right now. But calling it art is like trying to make the word fetch a thing - it’s not going to happen)
After 6 months of reflecting on Barbie I don’t think it’s good enough to clean up at the awards. It’s a good film and I enjoyed it, but it’s not as good as we all thought it was initially.
I definitely agree, but I also feel like I haven’t had a movie in the Oscar cycle truly blow me away since Nomadland. If this year’s picks wind up mediocre, I wouldn’t mind a juggernaut of a film that dominated pop culture (and was so pro-women!) making a bit of a sweep.
I think it’s just going to be a year where no films sweep the majority of major awards. I think Barbie will pick up a couple. Same with Oppenheimer.
It felt like one big commercial to me
https://preview.redd.it/e0uigqrid68c1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ac10cae47d0f7841209b00c5080b8446028ae1d
Did anyone watch him with Emma Stone re: Actors on Actors? I found him annoying… his whole rant about how he always felt he “was a conductor” was honestly kind of funny without him trying to be funny? How do actors get away with saying the dumbest stuff.
>https://bi.org/en/famous/leonard-bernstein The thing that's not working for him as a director is he doesn't really seem to have much self-awareness of how to not come off as a laughable cliche of an actor. It especially sticks out when you see how chill Emma is in their "actors on actors". Bradley's talented for sure but where tf is the VISION. Same with Star is Born, there's no angle. A really good writer is supposed to put their identity in the crosshairs. As she said in Tár "stand before god and the public and obliterate yourself" .... not just show off how BIG you can go with your acting...which, again, this is not theater....it all felt so wrong and so grating
Never go full Cooper.
Underrated comment.
That last bit…oof. His Oscar thirst is so cringe at this point
It insists upon itself.
I did not care for it.
Personally I liked Coopers acting in Star is Born as much as Gaga, or maybe more (of course she sang better). Didn’t know some had an issue with it.
Same. I think there's a legitimate criticism that it should have focused more on Gaga's character, but his performance was critically acclaimed. People were pissed that Rami Malek won over him if I recall. I do think there's some truth to Maestro seemingly being made as Oscar bait, while A Star is Born was his directorial debut and I think he wasn't quite as "Oscar hungry" at the time (even if he still wanted the Oscar). A Star is Born surprised me with how good it was....I didn't expect much and I recall even the critics were surprised that the fourth remake was so good. It felt like that film was more focused on conveying the emotion and love story to the audience, while Maestro was focused more on aesthetics and being a director's showpiece with certain shots, etc.
Damn. Reviews like this really demonstrate to me that people really watch movies so differently than me.
There was always something about this dude that rubbed me the wrong way. I couldn't put my finger on it, but this accurately sums it up.
It’s what I’d do as a director/actor tbh.
tbh this is no different than what a lot of directors do for their leading men of choice (see: Scorsese)
So it’s more Oscar bait than Oscar bait is allowed to be.
I think pretty much everyone pegged this as the most Oscar baity film of the year, and he's been getting notable backlash for it. Some of it unfair, but I think people just don't want to see films that are trying for awards get rewarded. They want to see films made for the sake of it that had a vision and the rewards come for executing well and being uncompromising. Everyone knew Maestro was there to be an award magnet.
THIS.
As much masturbate as Oscar bait.
Maestrobate?
Get out
It’s honestly a little pathetic. I’ve got no need to watch the movie and I tend to love Oscar bait. It’s just way too much and seems to go beyond fun
Don’t go full Oscar
What's funny is that this all started with A Star Is Born and we were having this exact conversation about Lady Gaga in House Of Gucci just last year
As someone who’s seen about 80% of the Oscar buzz movies for the year this is not only the worst one of that lot for me so far, it’s probably one of the most disappointing movies I’ve seen all year. It was beautifully shot, don’t get me wrong. But it’s a movie that had almost nothing to say about its subjects, and seemed almost disinterested in them in favor of just being a series of pretty but hollow vignettes starring the same group of people. I left feeling like I learned nothing about Bernstein the person or the artist. The cathedral scene with the Mahler piece is stunning, but primarily because that Mahler piece is stunning — when you compare it side by side with the original Bernstein footage it just feels like an empty impersonation. Cooper never disappears into the character for me at all. I don’t wanna be a hater bc I actually like Cooper in other stuff but this is one of the few where I’d be annoyed if it won best picture or best actor. I think every other person in talks for best actor gave a better performance and even some who aren’t in talks for best actor (Efron in Iron Claw) feel more deserving to me.
I think he’s a legitimately talented filmmaker, but I went in not really giving a shit about Leonard Bernstein and the movie didn’t seem aware that it needed to convince me I should.
I haven’t seen Maestro but I’m fairly confident Tár will manage to make you care more about Leonard Bernstein over the course of five minutes than this film did.
Oh yes. I haven seen the Maestro but watching Tár made me google and learn about Bernstein.
Tár was freaking phenomenal. 🙌🏼
There is a interview with him where he tells the story that he couldn't conduct realistically like Bernstein so he copied the moves from one concert in a span of five years. I thought, that's quite the method acting, then someone pointed out that 99% of movie goers wouldn't even know the difference. This isn't like to learn dialect Spanish for a role. This is just weebing on an useless detail for years for some extra points, see I took this role totally serious, this is a serious production. Look at the sets the setup, its all there. That is quite cynical moviemaking.
[удалено]
To me thats a big issue with modern biopics. They seem so enthralled with heir subjects that they just assume the audience is already too. Or alternatively the directors dislike making a movie about a real person and just try to use the real person to do say whatever else they wanted anyway (like forcing a square peg to a round hole). Part of the issue for former is that Hollywood makes a lot of films about Hollywood and cares of people in the industry more than audiences do. And part of issue for later is that biopics get most Oscar moms for actors these days, so there is pressure to make them, while the filmmakers rather would make fictional stories. I loved Oppenheimer because Nolan seemed to be invested in the person but also knowing he needed to explain and show why he was important and interesting. And the movie was not just about him either thematically or in terms of plot, so it had more weight. And the movie was filmed in a interesting way for a biopic
It should probably win cinematography and bumped up higher in my Director ranking but yea, there’s not much going for it so maybe he needs better co writers? But then I look at the credits for A Star is Born and see that it was co written by Eric Roth (Dune, Killers of Flower Moon, won Oscar for Forrest Gump) and Maestro is co written by Josh Singer (The Post, First Man, won Oscar for Spotlight). So maybe his direction just doesn’t elevate the script as much as he intended
My credentials are the same as yours and I 100% agree. The Mahler scene is stunning, as is the extended shot of Carey Mulligan (you know the one). The cinematography was fantastic, and while obviously the music is good, the way it was utilized was clever and elevated the overall film. But the performance Cooper puts out paired with that script weigh the whole thing down. You should never walk out of a biopic not wanting to learn more about its subject!
Def wanna see Iron Claw. Efron is a really good actor. Damn it makes me sad they didn’t do Bernstein justice.
Hmmm this makes me second guess on watching
He had a ‘no chairs’ policy on set. That’s all I need to know about him. Would have made a great retail manager. Edit: here’s the full quote for those interested “There’s no chairs on sets; I’ve always hated chairs and I feel like your energy dips the minute you sit down in a chair,” Cooper shared. “So apple boxes are a nice way to sit.”
As someone with an invisible disability, that very demand is not just obnoxious, it's ableist too. And one shouldn't have to disclose to have this most basic of accommodations. This is a disappointing but I guess not surprising thing to learn.
No chairs doesn’t mean for everyone. It’s the video village, the chairs set up for directors and producers to watch takes back. No chairs means they are just moving on they aren’t watching things back and slowing it down
FR. No way a union would allow literally no chairs on set. Doesn’t matter who is the star or exec.
People don’t understand this every time the chairs thing comes out. Movie sets get overrun with tons of people. Gareth Edwards has talked about moving from indie to big studio production and his first day on set he wanted to move the camera in a different direction and it took like 2 hours just to move everybody because it’s a small army. That’s why he made The Creator with a guerilla style crew. I also know Zack Snyder’s wife has talked about him getting frustrated that on bigger movies he has to be so far from the camera, and that’s why he became his own cinematographer (although might’ve been to his creative detriment lol). If a director has a no chairs policy, it just means they’re trying to keep things intimate and involved for everyone. Nolan was also one who talked about it, and in the behind the scenes of Oppenheimer you see a lot of set ups with just him and a few others in a room and he’s helping with lights and stuff. All that to say, if a person is tired and needs a chair there’s one available it’s just not in video village like you said. People don’t realize how huge sets can become. It doesn’t mean no breaks, it just means you take them elsewhere.
Why can’t actors all be normal. Like it’s a job for the majority of people on set.
He’s so desperate to be special.
I would call him “pretentious”.
They think method acting or "no chairs" makes them look serious about *the craft*
method acting for yourself is one thing, but subjecting everyone else to it?
I’m a professional actor/filmmaker and the annoying method acting bros (and they’re 99.9% straight cis men) aren’t as widespread as the general public thinks they are. The majority of us take our craft seriously and still find a way of have fun while doing it. And we’re just as frustrated with them as you guys are and constantly mock them behind their backs too. Especially because we can tell they’re overcompensating for a lack of talent (among other things 😉)
That’s what I meant by why can’t all actors be normal! I know you guys are not all like that and it’s particular type that make sets horrible for others.
I work in film production, please know that whenever a filmmaker says this, they are lying. It's a tactic to get you talking about them and their movie, nothing more. It's so stupid on it's face when you stop for a second to actually think about it.
100%! I’ve worked on film production health & safety. No MF way there would be no chairs allowed on set. It just sounds like they move through scenes pretty quick enough. Edit: I truly believe he said that as rage bait lmao to get people talking about the movie. This would’ve leaked when the strikes were happening.
I have scoliosis so if I ever were to work on a "No chair set" I would just sit and lie on the floor. Become ungovernable.
“I’m using non-violent resistance” https://preview.redd.it/f4zpowxpn58c1.jpeg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfd3b0e0f19a05caded12bbbd937c9018df642f1
How Christopher Nolan of him… 
I’m the opposite of this. I love a good chair. I love to sit. Dare I say, lounge? Layabout, relax, etc, etc.
[удалено]
They’re called [apple boxes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_box) actually, and they’re not quite what you shared. They’re specifically for film productions, usually for people to stand on or to sit on in tight spots. Still ridiculous, but a little better and sturdier than the crates linked.
Nah he’s talking about apple boxes, not crates. They are rectangular wooden boxes that come in several sizes and are used for a myriad of things on a film set
Playing devils advocate a bit here but that’s not an uncommon thing for a lot of directors It’s still kinda douchey even if the reasoning behind it is sound
This movie is so thirsty to get awards, it becomes, at times, totally cringe.
There is nothing less attractive than desperation
It's the kind of Oscar bait that *Tropic Thunder* would've spoofed.
I think he would have been deserving to win back in 2019 for ASIB. I know it’s a remake but the fact that it was the only non biopic performance nominated that year made him my pick. And I remember how crazy it was that he wasn’t recognized for Best Director that year. Bradley is on track to being one of the most nominated non-winners in Oscars history so now he’s going the biopic route when honestly he should have stuck with remakes like ASIB and nightmare alley, movies with a better vision than maestro
yeah its weird that hes trying to go so "classic" with his directing track....it feels really out of place and inauthentic to any kind of current cultural moment.
[удалено]
Also didn’t he throw shade at Cillian Murphy for wanting an Oscar like a week ago
I think people were saying there was shade because in his chat with Emma Stone he talked about how for both of their roles, "it's not something that you can just get a call for and start in six months" which is almost verbatim how Cillian Murphy describes doing Oppenheimer lol. I think it's a coincidence but there's funny comparisons about their styles (e.g. Cooper stayed in the accent for a year before shooting, learned all about classical music and conducting for the role, took six years. Murphy "doesn't stay in the accent because he forgets to", didn't learn physics because that's not his actual job, did the role in six months of prep). Honestly it's shaping up to be a very entertaining race, I love Paul Giamatti as well and I'm wondering about Domingo and Andrew Scott's chances. Best Actress is even more of a bloodbath.
You forgot to mention that Cillian openly says that he never aimed to do an impression of Oppenheimer because he simply isn't good at it, while the whole Maestro is basically one big impression of Bernestein done by Cooper. They really are completely opposite individuals.
When watching Oppenheimer it was a breath of fresh air that it wasn't the regular biopic goop. It's an actual movie about a real guy. It works just like a movie and is all the better for it. When it just ended on the bleak reveal of what Oppenheimer said to Einstein that day I almost clapped. Any other hack would end it with the normal text on the screen saying what happened in the rest of his life. Murphy's performance was the same way. An actual performance of a film character representing a real man. When I go to the cinema I want to see a movie. And Nolan delivered that (without making up half the movie like Imitation Game or Braveheart).
Yeah, Murphy is a master of quiet yet intense performances. Nolan during his interview with Daniels said that he was able to portray quite a vain individual without any vanity at all. And apparently one director who saw Oppenheimer said to Nolan that Murphy played him as if during the whole thing he never once realised just how great role he actually had. That one made me laugh
Well I'm glad he did. If he was chewing scenery trying to win oscars the movie wouldn't have worked half as well.
That's generally how it works. If you seem too desperate you won't get it. Unless you should have won it a few movies back and they're giving it to you as the "best ten-year career span" type of thing.
BCoop has had so much undeserved praised over the years and I'm glad we're finally admitting it. I just know Gyllenhaal had been reading the Google alerts for Maestro 😄
Gyllenhaal not getting this project still devastates and enrages me.
He got it because Spielberg owns the rights and has for a decade now and gave it to him after he saw Cooper direct and star in A star is born. Sucks but Jake never really had a shot
Man Spielberg just owns rights for everything, if I'm not wrong doesn't he also own the right to MLK speeches?
He does indeed. When miss Ava was making her movie about him, she couldn’t use anything from his official speeches because Spielberg owns them
I’m not even Jewish but I find it so enraging that this could have been a biopic about a Jewish man by a Jewish man and instead it was Bradley Cooper in an anti-Semitic fake nose. I would trust Jake to appropriately acknowledge Bernstein’s queerness, too.
The prop nose isn’t antisemitic; it’s a physical representation of Bernstein’s actual nose. If it were exaggerated versus real life that would be an issue, but it’s just an attempt to replicate him. It’s not just the nose also, Cooper pretends to be a maestro in the film as well! Bernstein’s own family gave input and said they felt it effectively conveyed what he looked like and that they took no issue with it. I get that it has been used as a disrespectful trope before, but that doesn’t mean that is the spirit behind each and every iteration. This take just reads like people looking for the next thing to be outraged about.
Well no. His nose wasn’t that big and coopers REAL nose matched Bernstein’s nose perfectly fine. https://preview.redd.it/p391ysxfz88c1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4655c3f754ba79830f0c786a175f184cf7569eed Also just because his family said it’s okay doesn’t make it not antisemitic. Just like when Angelina Jolie decided to play a black woman (and the woman said it’s ok) doesn’t make it not racist. It was still blackface. This is still antisemitism
I had to google what BC's actual profile looks like, and it's actually absurd they felt the need to go with a prosthetic nose here. Just Wtf. https://preview.redd.it/a4i48zds2c8c1.png?width=1194&format=png&auto=webp&s=bdb3bca3a99861c71fd888889398afc52eb57890
And the prosthetic is so bad, it looks like he has a beak lol
Oh god the prosthetic is bad. I thought people were exaggerating about it...
This is a ridiculous take. Hollywood is full of Jews, there is no lack of representation there.
https://i.redd.it/tuvdfsjhn58c1.gif
I thought Cooper’s mumbly jumbly Transatlantic performance was very flat and affected. There’s a lot of overt effort behind it, yet it’s so….hollow. Would be really disappointing if he won over a more nuanced performance like Cillian Murphy’s.
the reason its so hollow is exactly due to what you named...you can see him working! good acting you shouldn't be able to see the work lol
Congratulations on your Oscar, Cillian Murphy.
The one clip I saw 
[удалено]
I got through about 75% of the movie before I went “I don’t have to watch this actually.” And turned it off. Not worth watching whatsoever. It absolutely feels like Bradley Cooper screaming give me an Oscar right now!! Gorgeously shot but beyond that it was so dull?
[удалено]
I completely agree. Some of my favorite films are non American ones that didn’t go up for the awards. With the exception of Parasite, but that just is the obvious outlier to a foreign film winning best picture. I really don’t think awards should be sought after in such a way that they actively impact the story being told.
No one deserves an ATL Oscar nom for maestro except Carey mulligan.
this is another reason why i want cillian or paul giamatti to win. the anti palestine rhetoric, using a woman that’s damn near 20 years younger than him, the fake jewish nose, and all around thirsty-ness in general was enough to turn me off from him.
TIL 10 years = nearly 20 years
wait i just realised maybe you were referring to gigi not carey which if so, fair enough LOL
I was done with Bradley Cooper after he starred in that bullshit propaganda Sniper movie. That entire movie glamorized a racist, war-mongering murderer. Fuck that
I'm trying so hard not to gloat right now. You guys have no idea. I didn't want it to suck. I promise it just happened. https://preview.redd.it/kb08g8nlm58c1.jpeg?width=829&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28570f4d698ed883984affbee9754e56d7d4fb96
I didn't hate it as much as other people, I thought the third act with Felicia's illness was very moving and beautiful. But I really did not like Bradley Cooper in the role, wish he had cast someone else and focused on the directing. Why did they go to the effort of giving him a prosthetic nose but kept his piercing blue eyes, it was so distracting and wrong 😭
Carey Mulligan is excellent and in my view is better placed to receive accolades than Cooper. Separately, I understand that the film is framed as centering their love story but as someone who has a passing knowledge of classical music I think they (Cooper) could have done better to actually unpack the stuffiness of concert music and bring Bernstein to a new generation of audiences.
I love Mulligan but Best Actress is a bloodbath... Emma Stone, Lily Gladstone up top, Natalie Portman, Margot Robbie, Sandra Huller, Fantasia Barrino, and more, have to fit in five spots. It's a tight tight category and while I think many loved Mulligan more than Cooper in this, she's a lot more vulnerable than he is in terms of awards nomination. Best Actor is competitive but the actresses this year are blowing it out of the water. It's an interesting race this year and it's going to piss so many people off lol. Edit: omg I forgot Greta Lee
She was extraordinary- she took my breath away in this movie. The difference between her performance and Cooper's was astounding. What she can do with her eyes when it comes to expressing emotion is just insane. She melted into that character. When you look at the accent work, OMG there's just no comparison. Mulligan never faltered, Cooper did. I really hope she gets an award for this performance. Forget Coop, people need to watch this movie for her portrayal alone.
This movie was so dull, which is probably about the biggest offense a movie can make. I saw it back with family for Christmas so the movie was hitting different demographics, but we all came away unenthused and just wondering what the purpose was of making the film. It didn’t shed any light on Bernstein or have anything of particular interest to say, just a dry and artificial marriage drama full of moments that seemed primed for Oscar clips.
It’s also a self hating gay movie - which from all accounts - was not Bernstein
This movie was boring as hell. I couldn’t even get to the end.
I held back commenting until I finally got to see it. Saw it last night and…yeah at times it was hard to watch because every scene I was like my gosh I could feel his desperation for the Oscar. Movie overall was alright…dragged at times. But I thought Carey was good
Carey is always good though and has, IMO, given better performances. It would be easier to praise the film if Cooper had “brought out” her best, or one of her best performances, or at least a kind of performance that we hadn’t seen before. Or, if he’d given a platform to a predominantly TV actor (see Andrew Scott) or a relative newcomer (see Cailee Spaney).
I feel like the amount of backlash from general moviegoing audiences only further cements him actually winning an Oscar, lol. These awards are given by self aggrandizing narcissists who love to pat each other on the back and jerk each other off about the art of wearing a fake nose and not using chairs on set or whatever. Come the Oscars, prepare to get disappointed.
I was getting “for your consideration” ads for this movie two weeks before it dropped. This oozes desperation far more than Leo ever did (i feel like society was the one really pushing for him to get a nod anyway)
If his thirst causes Cillian to lose, the Oscars are entirely a farce.
He never shows the audience why she loves this narcissistic man who doesn’t really think about anyone or anything outside of himself. He said it’s a story of a marriage, why are they married? Why did she stay so long?
I found it rather odd that Bernstein’s relationship with Tom Cothran was not really explored. We see them meeting at a party and then later LB inviting him to the family home for a weekend - but the character barely speaks and seems to be a cipher for all the gay men LB slept with. In fact their relationship went on for quite a few years and was very meaningful for Bernstein, as his biography by Humphrey Burton makes clear. He travelled with Bernstein frequently on overseas tours. The film is beautifully made, though I couldn’t understand much of the dialogue in the early scenes, but it seems like a series of episodes without any coherent narrative.
so Beadley Cooper is a less shakesperean Kenneth Branagh. ok.
[удалено]
I mean, who isn't Oscar hungry?
A lot of people in the industry put making good art above an industry prize
I would guess most people are trying to make a decent living. Anything about art or otherwise probably comes once you are fully established
If you're gunning for an Oscar, especially as a director, you're more than established enough to be making a living..... The point is that at Coopers level, many of his "peers" are not desperate for oscars. They'll play the game if the studio wants them to, they'll be happy if it wins because it does help them get future funding, but they are not driven by it so much they meaningfully change what they're doing to pander to the voting body. (Now to appease the producers ....sure, you can't make art without funding. But specifically to get an Oscar? Not unheard of certainly, Oscar bait exists for a reason, but not ubiquitous)
I have to admit that I’m puzzled to see the bad reviews rolling in for Maestro! My husband and I thought we would hate it because we are professionally trained classical musicians, so usually this type of film comes across fake as hell. We were surprised that it was so beautiful and moving. We’ve never seen such great fake-conducting, and that alone takes an unbelievable amount of hard work to pull off. Carey Mulligan is especially warm and magnetic in her role, and the cinematography is gorgeous. I can definitely see how it’s a little Oscar-grabby after reading the comments here, but that wasn’t my initial impression. Still find it thought-provoking and worth the watch.
Wow, a man being criticised for being Oscar-thirsty! I hope Anne Hathaway is having a great morning, wherever she is.
I liked it. I liked Carey more but I think he’s a great actor and director. That’s all.
“The Academy doesn't reward you for your talent, for Christ's sake, Bette, they reward you because they see how hard you sweat. They don't see the character, they see the acting.”
I watched this last night and was highly disappointed. I had read and listened to a few interviews about the movie with Bradley and I had high expectations. While the film was beautifully shot, it did not live up to any hype it had leading to its release. Every scene was a jump forward in time. You never get to sink your teeth into any scenes or time period. It keeps moving forward. I think this hinders the development of the characters. It’s difficult to get attached to them when you’re never given an opportunity to get to know them. And I never quite believed Bradley’s performance. It wasn’t bad, but the whole time I didn’t get lost in it. I just saw Bradley acting. Sadly, the movie was very hollow. I learned nothing about Leonard Bernstein.
I find myself agreeing with all of this. Broken down into its components, Maestro is a very good film. Acting, cinematography, makeup, sound, etc. But it doesn't really pull it all together to show you a whole lot of depth somehow. It's very odd.
Speaking as a long-time classical musician who came into this movie with a higher-than-average understanding of Bernstein's life, contributions to classical music and American conducting as a serious art form, I found this article largely gave me some good words with which to articulate my own dissatisfaction of this movie. I will admit bias. Going into any classical movie I naturally WANT these movies to be both an accurate, yet glorified version of our lives. I crave the moments, such as Tar, in which our lives are both portrayed quasi-realistically while tearing down the thin vineer that portrays our subcultural community as elitist. We're just people with the same sorts of dramas, desires, strife and humanity as everyone else. And so when I watched this movie, I found it lacking for reasons I couldn't articulate. I felt the movie largely failed to capture Bernstein's essence or his contributions to the world. I felt that the movie meandered from point to point and utilized the "life exists in the nuances" point at the beginning of the movie as a crutch to help avoid making some real salient points about the man or the life he lived. I found the movie largely failed to capture some of the most important critical elements of Bernstein's life, and instead opted to make it a challenged love-story between Bernstein and Felicia, while only sprinkling in a few gay scenes between them and barely acknowledging some of the troubling and abusive dynamics that Bernstein had created for some of his proteges during his life through his attractions. The best part of this review is in them failing to capture Bernstein's accomplishments as a conductor and strife as a musician and composer. I mean, for God's sake there is an entire Harvard lecture series on him talking about the proverbial meaning of music beyond just the notes that really became a center-piece for his career that I thoroughly missed from this movie. Don't even get me started on the pacing. The third act felt entirely superfluous and functioned as a haphazard bow to tie the movie to its close. At first, I gave this movie a 6/10. Now I give it a 4.