First pics arrive of Bradley Cooper's biopic "Maestro" about Leonard Bernstein - complete with stereotype nose prosthetic

[CorethPWilshire]

I don't see why it's an issue if the entire point is that the prosthetic makes him look more like the person he's portraying. It's not to "look Jewish," it's to look like Leonard Bernstein. Sometimes I feel like people are just looking for things to get upset about.

Now, that doesn't mean people can't be upset, and if people are offended that's valid. But to me it seems like people are ignoring the entire intent and context of the situation, which in my opinion should be taken into account.

 

[Necromanti]

It looks better in the aged up version, but the younger version looks very off compared to the photo posted here (and other ones). I don't know if it's the angle.

 

[Scullibundo]

If you see the Netflix tweet and the pics of the prosthetics, and your first thought is 'Oh they're trying to make Cooper look like a Jew' instead of 'Oh they're trying to make him look like Bernstein for this Bernstein biopic', then I'm afraid you're the racist.

The amount of people seeing the big nose prosthetic and immediately identifying the intent as OH, JEW NOSE, is what's actually offensive in this thread.

 

[Bionic]

I don't see why it's an issue if the entire point is that the prosthetic makes him look more like the person he's portraying. It's not to "look Jewish," it's to look like Leonard Bernstein. Sometimes I feel like people are just looking for things to get upset about.

Now, that doesn't mean people can't be upset, and if people are offended that's valid. But to me it seems like people are ignoring the entire intent and context of the situation, which in my opinion should be taken into account.

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Edit: deleted my question.

You want to tell people intention matters more than the effects of their actions? Don't dismiss people by telling them that their intent is shitty, while asking them to consider the intent of other people. It's hypocritical. I don't care if other people aren't bothered by it, I'm allowed to be bothered by it, and telling people they can't be bothered by something if the intent behind it is good is some privileged nonsense.

 

[Ridley327]

The younger version definitely feels a bit too prominent in terms of the pointed nature of the nose to not look a little silly, but the older makeup is honestly kind of incredible in terms of how well it transforms Bradley Cooper while still being a pretty reasonable facsimile of Bernstein.

It's not my place to say whether or not that a non-Jew should be allowed to play a Jew, but I'm not sure that a large nose prosthetic really gets into the territory of offensiveness all on its own, as the performance is what's really going to actually determine that. If Cooper decides to go full Laurence Olivier in The Boys from Brazil or The Jazz Singer, then yeah, there's some words needing to be had with him, but trying to look more like the subject itself really isn't cause for immediate side-eying or indicative that they're going into outright stereotype territory just on that basis once the film comes out. Personally, I'm more concerned about how the film will ultimately handle the homosexual aspect of Bernstein as that's going to require a very deft hand to pull it off in all the complicated messiness that it had, especially the impact it had on his wife, but that's also another matter that remains to be seen.

 

[Catshade]

Stereotype and directorial intention aside, it looks weird for me because I know what Bradley Cooper looks like, and he still looks like Bradly Cooper, but the different nose threw me off. He's not like Gary Oldman who can completely disappear under a role just by wearing a wig or a fake moustache.

 

[Deleted member 4461]

Why just the nose? Why is that the specific thing that NEEDS to be like Bernstein and not anything else?

I'd say don't do it.

 

[Watershed]

The older version looks a ton like Bernstein himself. I think the overall make-up works. The fake nose, along with the rest of the make-up and styling, makes Bradley Cooper look a lot like Leonard Bernstein.

Edit: looking at the younger pics, I think he also has a fake chin too, or they did something to his jaw line. It's not just Bradley Cooper with a fake nose. They've done a lot of different things to make him look like Bernstein and the fake nose is just one part of it.

 

[Senator Toadstool]

Stereotype and directorial intention aside, it looks weird for me because I know what Bradley Cooper looks like, and he still looks like Bradly Cooper, but the different nose threw me off. He's not like Gary Oldman who can completely disappear under a role just by wearing a wig or a fake moustache.

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It's literally the same make up artist as darkest hour for what it's worth

 

[CorethPWilshire]

I don't care if other people aren't bothered by it, I'm allowed to be bothered by it, and telling people they can't be bothered by something if the intent behind it is good is some privileged nonsense.

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That's why I literally made a point of saying that people are entitled to be upset and offended, it's not my intent to be dismissive of anyones feelings and I'm sorry if I came off that way.

 

[Haunted]

He looks like Bernstein, that's an amazing job by the makeup department.

Desi-Javier I'll admit was bad lol
I really don't think/hope people aren't taken out of Bradley Cooper's Bernstein because his nose doesn't match. It just feels weird with certain features you attribute I guess (a lot of movies seem to go the prosthetic nose route now that i think about it).

Honestly though, too often it just looks weird.
They ruined Jo Go Lev to look like Bruce Willis...shoulda been the other way around if anything!

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Now that was an absolutely horrible idea, I agree.

 

[teh_J0kerer]

As a Jewish man with a big ass nose.. I couldn't care less.

 

[Fallout-NL]

Somebody in the room has gotta say no when this stuff comes up

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Yup

 

[hateradio]

Somebody in the room has gotta say no when this stuff comes up

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But there have to be people in the room who say no to begin with.


It's pretty ridiculous that no one said that this would be a terrible idea.

 

[UF_C]

I'm Jewish and I have no problem with this at all. If it was a fictional character, sure. But I'm just glad a movie is celebrating a talented Jew.

 

[BarringGaffner]

Why just the nose? Why is that the specific thing that NEEDS to be like Bernstein and not anything else?

I'd say don't do it.

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he looks exactly like Bradley Cooper but with a different nose.

Just a different nose. A very handsome man.

 

[Bionic]

That's why I literally made a point of saying that people are entitled to be upset and offended, it's not my intent to be dismissive of anyones feelings and I'm sorry if I care off that way.

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You also literally said "Sometimes I feel like people are just looking for things to get upset about" and "people are ignoring the entire intent and context of the situation". So you didn't come off so much dismissive as you did calling people virtue signalers or telling people who are upset that they must be ignorant if they're upset.

You're far from the only person who does that, don't worry. You're not in great company there, but there are plenty of people who do it to all kinds of people when they speak up about something negatively affecting them.

 

[clmartin]

But there have to be people in the room who say no to begin with.


It's pretty ridiculous that no one said that this would be a terrible idea.

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Why? There are plenty of Jewish people in this thread saying there is no issue with this.

Framing this as a universal "omg how did this happen" bad idea isn't appropriate.

 

[Bionic]

Why? There are plenty of Jewish people in this thread saying there is no issue with this.

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There is no more Jewish tradition than loudly disagreeing with other Jews. You should hear my family fight over whether latkes get apple sauce or sour cream.

 

[clmartin]

There is no more Jewish tradition than loudly disagreeing with other Jews. You should hear my family fight over whether latkes get apple sauce or sour cream.

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lol. Full disclosure, I'm not Jewish.

I'm not saying that any Jewish person speaks for any other Jewish person or that all Jews are, or should be aligned on any issue let alone this one.

I'm just observing that there seems to be a number of people on each side of the issue so I can understand how a group of executives could jointly conclude there was nothing wrong with this.

 

[hodayathink]

But there have to be people in the room who say no to begin with.

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You mean like.... Steven Speilberg? There were Jewish people "in the room" and they decided this was okay. You're still free to not like it, of course, but implying there was no one in room with a knowledge of antisemitic history is just false.

Also, to people who call prosthetics unnecessary, I can't even count how many times actors have said they help them get into roles by having a physical transformation to go with the mental one.

 

[FliX]

Locked per OP's request.