Bradley Cooper is unrecognizable from the look of things on the set of his upcoming film “Maestro.”
The biographical drama stars Cooper as legendary composer Leonard Bernstein, opposite Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s wife, Felicia Montealegre.
The beloved multihyphenate musician, who died at age 72 in his Upper West Side apartment a mere five days into his retirement in 1990, is best remembered today as the composer behind consummate modern Broadway musical “West Side Story,” which premiered in 1957 at Midtown’s Winter Garden Theatre.
But Bernstein, who was hailed as a child piano prodigy while growing up in his native Massachusetts, made a point of intermittently switching up the focus of his professional endeavors, ultimately forging a legacy shaped by his momentous contributions as a composer of symphonic orchestra music, ballets, film and television scores as well as a number of other Broadway productions.
Netflix released photos from the set of “Maestro” on Monday, showing Cooper dressed up as the prodigious musician at different intervals across his life.
The stunning hair and make up work morphed the Oscar-nominated actor and director, 47, from Bernstein as a handsome young upstart conductor at the New York Philharmonic to the sage, widely celebrated veteran composer he eventually became.
Before production began, Scott Stuber, the head of global films at Netflix, told Variety about the time and effort put into Cooper’s appearance.
“We’ve done a lot of work on the makeup. We’ve done a lot of work on the voice. I’m excited to see someone so deeply focused on creating a story that means so much to him. And Carey Mulligan is an incredible actress,” he said.
Although the first look was released on Monday, the film is not scheduled for release until 2023.
Cooper recently shared that he contemplated quitting acting before being called for this role, admitting that he always wanted to be a composer himself.
“I was obsessed with it, asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. 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,” he told Variety.
Steven Spielberg, who just finished directing the film remake of “West Side Story,” was originally attached and recruited Cooper to star in the film despite the actor’s hesitance.
“I always knew that Steven Spielberg knew that I had this obsession with conducting,” Cooper said. “He had this biopic idea and was talking to me about potentially acting in it. But I had just been working on ‘A Star Is Born.’ And I said, ‘Listen, all I want to do is write and direct movies. 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?’”
This film also serves as Cooper’s directorial follow-up to the Oscar- and Grammy-winning movie “A Star Is Born,” which featured Lady Gaga as the titular “Star.”
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