The man who had sex with Bradley Cooper (in a movie!) says “it’s fine” if he plays gay composer Leonard Bernstein
By Cameron Scheetz · 60 comments· Updated on January 26, 2024
Image Credits: ‘Wet Hot American Summer,’ Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (left) | ‘Maestro,’ Netflix (right)
The trailer for Bradley Cooper’s new movie, Maestro, dropped earlier this week, and already the film’s courting as much controversy as it is Oscars buzz—because it wouldn’t be an awards season contender without a little drama, now would it?
Following up his hugely successful A Star Is Born remake with Lady Gaga, Cooper once again co-writes, directs, and stars in this biopic about acclaimed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein—best known for writing the music for West Side Story—and his complicated relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan).
Despite their marriage, many now know Bernstein to be bisexual—or, more broadly, queer—as he engaged in a number of affairs with women and men over the years. He was also Jewish. Bradley Cooper is not known to be either of those things.
On the former front, the debate over “gay-for-pay” acting roles rages on. But as we continue to see a (gradual) increase in LGBTQ+ representation on screen and a (gradually) widening acceptance of out actors in the industry—not to mention, our deeper modern understanding of queerness—folks have become a little less precious about who can play who, at least when it comes to sexuality.
Of course, there’s also the belief that a straight actor taking on a gay role—specifically for a “serious” drama—is shameless Oscar bait, which has been skewered endlessly over the years, as recently as Bros‘ parody of Brokeback Mountain. Biopics are also discussed as inherent Oscar bait, so it’s not hard to view Maestro as Cooper’s eager ploy to add some little gold men to his trophy room.
And that’s where the gay-for-pay argument becomes thorny once again: Will Cooper’s decision to play gay be seen by the Academy as more bold, more challenging, and therefore more “awards-worthy” than, say, an out actor like Colman Domingo playing gay political activist Bayard Rustin in Rustin (yet another buzzy biopic Netflix is premiering this fall)?
We’re admittedly getting a little ahead of ourselves here, and it’s hard to make a qualitative performance judgment based off a trailer alone. What we can judge, however—from the trailer, press images, and various leaked set photos—is the fact that Cooper is wearing heavy makeup and prosthetics to appear more like Bernstein, including a prodigious nose application.
Needless to say, folks are skeptical of the need for such a prosthetic, with some viewing it as anti-semitic or racist against the Jewish community, tipping Cooper’s “transformative” performance into caricature.
Left: Bradley Cooper with his prosthetic nose, playing Leonard Bernstein.
Right: The actual Leonard Bernstein.
This isn't about making a non-Jewish actor look more like Leonard Bernstein; it's about making a non-Jewish actor look more like a Jewish stereotype. https://t.co/WrYWuweosWpic.twitter.com/WxspPtHktj
Speaking with Variety, actor Tracy Ann Oberman—who, on Instagram, equated the prosthetic nose to “Black-Face or Yellow-Face”—elaborates on why she takes issue with the decision: “We are living in a time of enormous sensitivity around the appropriation of characters played by people who aren’t from that background. I have seen little similar concern about Jewish characters where their Jewish religious and cultural identity is intrinsic to who they are being discussed with the same respect.”
In response to the backlash, Bernstein’s children released a statement in support of Cooper wearing prosthetics to play their father, defending it as a decision made to “amplify his resemblance,” which they’re “perfectly fine” with.
(1/6) From Jamie, Alexander, and Nina Bernstein: Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father. pic.twitter.com/y9xZWDotJe
If your head’s already spinning, well, buckle up because this is only just the beginning. Maestro—produced by heavy-hitters Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese—is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in just a few short weeks, where folks will surely be weighing in on whether or not Cooper’s work can justify or even overcome the use of such a prosthetic.
After that, Maestro will head to select theaters on November 22, and then hit Netflix on December 30, and will almost certainly be a big player in the Oscars conversation the following year. So, yeah, we’re going to be talking about this for a while.
And while it’s far from the final word, we have to laugh at one actor, in a particular, weighing in on the matter.
Maestro certainly isn’t the first time Cooper has played gay. You may recall that, in the 2001 cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer, the actor portrayed Ben, a summer camp counselor and drama instructor who explores his sexuality in a hilariously overblown sex scene in a tool shed.
His scene partner, actor and comedian Michael Ian Black—who is Jewish himself—chimed in on Twitter with the perfect response to the whole controversy:
Whether you agree with Black or not, we have to thank him for reminding us of that incredibly erotic scene from Wet Hot American Summer. It may be played for laughs, but it still gets us feeling as sorts of “wet and hot” to this day.
We’ll never forget the time twinky Bradley Cooper got boinked by Michael Ian Black in that tool shed.
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Seriously our LGBTQ community needs to relax a but. We’ve got lots of people from queer community playing both gay and straight as we do having lots of straight people doing the same. It’s no longer a big deal. It’s not like we’re fully represented anywhere but acting is acting and just because an actor is straight shouldn’t eliminate them from playing queer. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies.
It’s also a matter of making back the budget it takes to make a film now. No studio is going to risk hiring an actor they know most audiences won’t go to see just because he publicly identifies as gay. They know they have a much better chance of bringing in a larger audience by hiring an actor like Bradley Cooper.
Straight actors playing gay shouldn’t be an issue. IT’S CALLED ACTING!!! Just like when gay actors play straight roles. The role should do to one who plays it best. Duh!!!
I hear that many gay actors don’t get a lot of roles. Honestly, I can only say there are few great gay actors to begin with. Sadly.
Sorry but watching Billy Porter play straight would NEVER be believable. Love him but true.
Arnold or Stallone playing gay would never be believable. Not because of machismo, but come on…please!
If you ever called Bernstein a “queer” to his face, he would have punched you in the nose, with good reason. Bradley Cooper is what is known as an “actor.”
Or even then. In DC he hung out with many fabulous Queers, Gay Men, Fag Hags, heterosexuals…..he was cool. And he was out.
I love LB’s nose. I love Barbra Striesand’s nose, I love Carole King’s nose. I LOVE JEWISH NOSES AND JEWISH PERFORMERS. I love it all! My god, what’s funny here is it takes a movie for Gay men to get all Critical Thinking. Whatevs.
@jr84
”or more broadly, queer”. That’s not an assumption. It’s a fact. One that will take many of you your whole life time to swallow and digest. We get it. You, like many have a problem with queer. Don’t make that anyone elses problem. Lenny was all over the place, all over the world and all over many scenes. He had fun. Are you?
Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose is the right shape, but it could have been slightly smaller. Compared to the actual picture on Maestro Berstein, it looks too big.
If they did the nose the way you’d want it, oh, how boring. Recall Faye Dunaway doing Joan. Her eyes didn’t really do all those trippy things but IT WORKED!
if you look at more pictures of Mr Berstein you will see in most his nose looks quite a bit larger than in the picture used in this article. Leonard never in his lifetime admitted to. being gay or even BI he maintained in every interview that he was 100% straight even saying some horribly homophobic things as many in the closet tend to do. IT was a different time so am not holding it. against him but it shows how sexuality is difficult when the person isn’t honest with themselves. I dont understand the problem with Bradly Cooper. not being gay or jewish ACTING in this BIOPIC esp since the mans family is so happy about his approached. I’m MUCH MORE concerned they not try to downplay the gayness after seeing waaaay too many movies about gay people who onscreen have totally hetro sex lives. I mean it is laughable they had COLE PORTER madly in love with his wife or any woman. The Alan Truing bio pushed a strange kinda straight love story and that list is long. Just be honest in the writing and then it shouldn’t matter who plays the person
He doesn’t need a prosthetic. It’s not like the nose is that important, and, it’s not like Bradley Cooper doesn’t already have a prominent (and attractive) nose.
Orsen Welles also used prosthetic noses. He thought his own nose wasn’t masculine enough. If it lends to the physical aesthetic of a character, why not.
Yes. There is nothing wrong here! The bigger the better. Some say he conducted with his nose. I think he said that.
”Leonard Bernstein’s kids defend Bradley Cooper from ‘Jewface’ accusations
The composer’s children defended Cooper from online critics who accused the actor of “Jewface” for allegedly wearing a prosthetic nose in the Netflix film.”
Prostheses in general aren’t controversial. When they reinforce longstanding racial, ethnic or other stereotypes, however, they are problematic. Do you really not grasp the difference?
I am REALLY tired of seeing Bisexual celebrities like Leonard Bernstein, Anthony Perkins, James Dean and Freddie Mercury referred to as “Gay” in headlines and articles like this. Despite those horrible initials that have (alas) become the principal identifier of our community in the media and public discourse, we still haven’t rethought what accepting the existence of Bisexual and Transgender people does to some of the major definition points of Queerness, including the idea that we’re “born that way.” And Bradley Cooper’s fake nose looks horrible, like he’s playing Cyrano de Bergerac instead of an often-filmed real-life celebrity.
the library of Congress has a letter Bernstein’s wife sent to him containing this passage: “If I seemed sad…it was…because I was left alone to face myself and the whole bloody mess which is our “connubial” life You are a homosexual and may never change let’s relax in the knowledge that neither of us is perfect and forget about being HUSBAND AND WIFE in such strained capital letters…”
sexuality is a spectrum etc etc, but Lenny seems to have been a gay man married to a woman
biography I read of Anthony Perkins made it clear that he was a gay man who, due to the meddling of a psychiatrist and her husband, thought he could only be happy with a woman. very sad, not something to accept
It’s extremely complicated talking about men from another era. Anthony Perkins may have married and led, for a time, an ostensibly straight life. But he went through cruel conversion therapy (which didn’t work, surprise!) to get there and was perennially tortured about his sexuality. And the fact that he died with AIDS tells you how that played out. Is he bi because he maintained had a beard of a wife and family? Or was he gay? Almost everyone who knew him would have said he was gay.
It’s virtually impossible to suss out anyone else’s “sexuality”, what their sexual journey was, their exact lifestyle, their preferences, their motivations, their insecurities, where they were in the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum. So, I’m uncomfortable with branding anyone anything, outside of something broad and vague like “queer”. It’s especially difficult when you’re talking about decades ago. Never underestimate how much sociology, ego, internalized phobias and masculine fragility guided men back then. It’s still a huge thing to this day. I will say, at the end of the day, nothing can trump marriage. Who you publicly commit to will always matter more than anything else.
Honestly, I’m a bit tired of the majority of “queer Oscar bait” films being centered on a hetero commitment and/or a tragic “gay romance”. It’s been tired. And Hollywood hardly seems interested in evolving past that. If anything, these Oscar bait movies have an issue with presenting homo passions and love that aren’t filtered through hetero normalcy. While it seems as if the film will present his gay relationships as “flings” that didn’t really matter.
I’m of the belief that around 50% of the entertainment industry is and was in the queer spectrum. While a good percentage of “gay presenting” celebs are/were inherently bi or pan or experience degrees of fluidity. So, debating about identities is tired. We don’t know these people. We don’t know their exact dimensions. We don’t know who they were genuinely in love with. Where they are or were in the overall spectrum. While we forget that, yes, some men can be inherently homosexual or sexual homo-leaning but have hetero romantic leanings. Some men can be heterosexual or sexually hetero leaning but have more homo romantic leanings or homo investment. While tons of different things can motivate people. And if prejudice, family pressures, hetero pressures/expectations, masculine fragility, queer shame are still substantial issues now, imagine what they were decades ago. So, yes, some men can be entirely homosexual and entirely homo-leaning when it comes to the sexual, romantic attachment, emotional investment, commitment contentment spectrum but still indulge hetero commitments. Trying to get to the “truth” is futile. People are complicated and f-ed up. All we have is guesswork and what people presented. Most of everything else is identity politics, and that includes folks obsessed with pushing “bi pride” on every long dead “queer” male who entered a hetero commitment decades ago.
Leonard Bernstein actually mulled whether it might be possible to live as an openly gay man when he was young, so saying that he was “gay” is not a misnomer. He did marry a woman and fathered three children, yet had brief and extended relationships with men for much of his adult life, even leaving his wife in 1976 to live with his then partner. He only returned as his wife became very ill, and he nursed her until her death in 1978. From then until his death in 1990, he continued relationships with various men. This is not my conjecture, it’s documented and buttressed by his children’s accounts of their father’s life.
Bernstein referred to himself as gay as others also referred to him as gay. He used his wife as a beard for his many affairs with men at a time when being gay could cause him to lose his position.
If we know he had sex with (cisgender) men and women, how do we make the leap from bisexual to “more broadly queer?” If someone identifies as queer, fine, but that’s a personal choice.
More and more, I’m seeing gay, lesbian, and bisexual people branded as queer and it’s really not an ok assumption to make that everyone is ok with that term.
@jr84
”or more broadly, queer”. That’s not an assumption. It’s a fact. One that will take many of you your whole life time to swallow and digest. We get it. You, like many have a problem with queer. Don’t make that anyone elses problem. Lenny was all over the place, all over the world and all over many scenes. He had fun. Are you?
Ethnicity has nothing t do with what’s really wrong here.
If Bernstein had looked like Cooper with that ridiculous prosthetic, he wouldn’t have had men and women lining up to sleep with him.
I’ve got to give Carey Mulligan and Matt Bohmer a lot of credit for not bursting into laughter just looking at him. I couldn’t help myself just watching the trailer.
The prosthetic is absurd but large noses on men are hardly a bar to attractiveness. Do you know how many men with large noses are considered very attractive by large numbers of people? Among White actors alone, you could list Adrien Brody, Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Tom Cruise, Jeff Goldblum, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Mangianello, Adam Driver, etc. all have large or very large noses and all have been considered sex symbols at various points. Even Robert Redford, as WASPY as you get, has a sizable, slightly hooked nose. And let’s not even get into BIPOC actors, many of them gorgeous, who have large noses. Sheesh!
This is getting out of control. Someday, those so-called ‘guardians of fairness,’ who are essentially activists and critics of “correctness”, might request the individual to portray themselves in the cinematic retelling of their life story. ?????
Speaking of actors appropriating identities that aren’t theirs, I’m still trying to recover from Gaga using a Natasha-and-Boris Russian accent in the Gucci movie when her character is supposed to be Italian (when she hisses “Don’t mees!” at the hitmen, I just about lose it).
I don’t know if Cooper himself had final say — that might make the mistake easier to fathom– but the prosthetic is a big, big mistake. The shape is right, but it’s much more prominent than Bernstein’s nose actually was. So what’s the point? Very distracting. If it wasn’t Cooper who greenlit the nose, some heads should roll. And this group should stay away from anything having to do with Jimmy Durante.
Bradley Cooper is an actor playing a character. This ridiculousness needs to die the fiery death it deserves.
I do have a problem with that schnozzle, though. Like the gigantic teeth Rami Malek wore in Bohemian Rhapsody, it is WAY more prominent than the original, and I’m not surprised people are even bringing up antisemitist.
Could it be our over the top Gay DESIGNERS! Someone in makeup needs to take the blame. It’s Hollywood. Hello! It’s generating buzz. They should thank us.
ALL
Automobile in America,
Chromium steel in America,
Wire-spoke wheel in America,
Very big deal in America!
ROSALIA
I’ll drive a Buick through San Juan.
ANITA
If there’s a road you can drive on.
ROSALIA
I’ll give my cousins a free ride.
ANITA
How you get all of them inside?
ALL
Immigrant goes to America,
Many hellos in America;
Nobody knows in America
Puerto Rico’s in America!
Speaking of noses, the evil critic John Simon once said of Streisand:
“She’s become an inspiration to hordes of middle-aged women who feel equal to her in full face and superior in profile.”
More than anything, the nose just looks awkward. It’s clearly not his nose. They could have done a bit better with prosthetics or just not done a fake nose. As far as Cooper playing this role, more power to him. I’m not particularly invested in the film in general. It seems Hollywood can’t give us “queer Oscar bait” without it being centered on a hetero commitment and/or a tragic “gay romance”. I’m tired of it, even if the film ends up being decent. At this point, it just comes off like queer exploitation for Oscar gold. I felt the same way about “The Whale.” Playing Jewish, a “queer” in a troubled hetero marriage and wearing a prosthetic- Cooper wants that an Oscar gold bad.
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Bengali
Seriously our LGBTQ community needs to relax a but. We’ve got lots of people from queer community playing both gay and straight as we do having lots of straight people doing the same. It’s no longer a big deal. It’s not like we’re fully represented anywhere but acting is acting and just because an actor is straight shouldn’t eliminate them from playing queer. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies.
humancobras666
Very true!
Mack
While I would love to see more out LGBTQ in roles, it is called “ACTING” for a reason. I agree Bengali.
Huron132
Agreed!
Doug
It’s also a matter of making back the budget it takes to make a film now. No studio is going to risk hiring an actor they know most audiences won’t go to see just because he publicly identifies as gay. They know they have a much better chance of bringing in a larger audience by hiring an actor like Bradley Cooper.
Georgeiv2
Common sense at last
gregg2010
We can assume nothing regarding Mr. Cooper’s sexuality.
correctio
lmao, of course not 😉
humancobras666
Straight actors playing gay shouldn’t be an issue. IT’S CALLED ACTING!!! Just like when gay actors play straight roles. The role should do to one who plays it best. Duh!!!
I hear that many gay actors don’t get a lot of roles. Honestly, I can only say there are few great gay actors to begin with. Sadly.
Sorry but watching Billy Porter play straight would NEVER be believable. Love him but true.
Arnold or Stallone playing gay would never be believable. Not because of machismo, but come on…please!
BigJohnSF
If you ever called Bernstein a “queer” to his face, he would have punched you in the nose, with good reason. Bradley Cooper is what is known as an “actor.”
dbmcvey
Because it was a different time. You have no idea how he would react now.
abfab
Or even then. In DC he hung out with many fabulous Queers, Gay Men, Fag Hags, heterosexuals…..he was cool. And he was out.
I love LB’s nose. I love Barbra Striesand’s nose, I love Carole King’s nose. I LOVE JEWISH NOSES AND JEWISH PERFORMERS. I love it all! My god, what’s funny here is it takes a movie for Gay men to get all Critical Thinking. Whatevs.
When you’re a JET!!!!!!!!!!!!
abfab
@jr84
”or more broadly, queer”. That’s not an assumption. It’s a fact. One that will take many of you your whole life time to swallow and digest. We get it. You, like many have a problem with queer. Don’t make that anyone elses problem. Lenny was all over the place, all over the world and all over many scenes. He had fun. Are you?
abfab
Lenny had more class than you @BigJohnSF. One would think he might handle any untoward shade without violence. Oh the horror! You called me queer!
JMD41
Up until very recently, I thought Bradley Cooper was Jewish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
leecee
Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose is the right shape, but it could have been slightly smaller. Compared to the actual picture on Maestro Berstein, it looks too big.
abfab
If they did the nose the way you’d want it, oh, how boring. Recall Faye Dunaway doing Joan. Her eyes didn’t really do all those trippy things but IT WORKED!
barryaksarben
if you look at more pictures of Mr Berstein you will see in most his nose looks quite a bit larger than in the picture used in this article. Leonard never in his lifetime admitted to. being gay or even BI he maintained in every interview that he was 100% straight even saying some horribly homophobic things as many in the closet tend to do. IT was a different time so am not holding it. against him but it shows how sexuality is difficult when the person isn’t honest with themselves. I dont understand the problem with Bradly Cooper. not being gay or jewish ACTING in this BIOPIC esp since the mans family is so happy about his approached. I’m MUCH MORE concerned they not try to downplay the gayness after seeing waaaay too many movies about gay people who onscreen have totally hetro sex lives. I mean it is laughable they had COLE PORTER madly in love with his wife or any woman. The Alan Truing bio pushed a strange kinda straight love story and that list is long. Just be honest in the writing and then it shouldn’t matter who plays the person
dbmcvey
He doesn’t need a prosthetic. It’s not like the nose is that important, and, it’s not like Bradley Cooper doesn’t already have a prominent (and attractive) nose.
mildredspierce
Orsen Welles also used prosthetic noses. He thought his own nose wasn’t masculine enough. If it lends to the physical aesthetic of a character, why not.
abfab
Yes. There is nothing wrong here! The bigger the better. Some say he conducted with his nose. I think he said that.
”Leonard Bernstein’s kids defend Bradley Cooper from ‘Jewface’ accusations
The composer’s children defended Cooper from online critics who accused the actor of “Jewface” for allegedly wearing a prosthetic nose in the Netflix film.”
boston dot com
Kangol2
Prostheses in general aren’t controversial. When they reinforce longstanding racial, ethnic or other stereotypes, however, they are problematic. Do you really not grasp the difference?
mgconlan
I am REALLY tired of seeing Bisexual celebrities like Leonard Bernstein, Anthony Perkins, James Dean and Freddie Mercury referred to as “Gay” in headlines and articles like this. Despite those horrible initials that have (alas) become the principal identifier of our community in the media and public discourse, we still haven’t rethought what accepting the existence of Bisexual and Transgender people does to some of the major definition points of Queerness, including the idea that we’re “born that way.” And Bradley Cooper’s fake nose looks horrible, like he’s playing Cyrano de Bergerac instead of an often-filmed real-life celebrity.
correctio
the library of Congress has a letter Bernstein’s wife sent to him containing this passage: “If I seemed sad…it was…because I was left alone to face myself and the whole bloody mess which is our “connubial” life You are a homosexual and may never change let’s relax in the knowledge that neither of us is perfect and forget about being HUSBAND AND WIFE in such strained capital letters…”
sexuality is a spectrum etc etc, but Lenny seems to have been a gay man married to a woman
correctio
biography I read of Anthony Perkins made it clear that he was a gay man who, due to the meddling of a psychiatrist and her husband, thought he could only be happy with a woman. very sad, not something to accept
abfab
@correctio It’s very sad.
Joshooeerr
It’s extremely complicated talking about men from another era. Anthony Perkins may have married and led, for a time, an ostensibly straight life. But he went through cruel conversion therapy (which didn’t work, surprise!) to get there and was perennially tortured about his sexuality. And the fact that he died with AIDS tells you how that played out. Is he bi because he maintained had a beard of a wife and family? Or was he gay? Almost everyone who knew him would have said he was gay.
Donston
It’s virtually impossible to suss out anyone else’s “sexuality”, what their sexual journey was, their exact lifestyle, their preferences, their motivations, their insecurities, where they were in the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum. So, I’m uncomfortable with branding anyone anything, outside of something broad and vague like “queer”. It’s especially difficult when you’re talking about decades ago. Never underestimate how much sociology, ego, internalized phobias and masculine fragility guided men back then. It’s still a huge thing to this day. I will say, at the end of the day, nothing can trump marriage. Who you publicly commit to will always matter more than anything else.
Honestly, I’m a bit tired of the majority of “queer Oscar bait” films being centered on a hetero commitment and/or a tragic “gay romance”. It’s been tired. And Hollywood hardly seems interested in evolving past that. If anything, these Oscar bait movies have an issue with presenting homo passions and love that aren’t filtered through hetero normalcy. While it seems as if the film will present his gay relationships as “flings” that didn’t really matter.
Donston
I’m of the belief that around 50% of the entertainment industry is and was in the queer spectrum. While a good percentage of “gay presenting” celebs are/were inherently bi or pan or experience degrees of fluidity. So, debating about identities is tired. We don’t know these people. We don’t know their exact dimensions. We don’t know who they were genuinely in love with. Where they are or were in the overall spectrum. While we forget that, yes, some men can be inherently homosexual or sexual homo-leaning but have hetero romantic leanings. Some men can be heterosexual or sexually hetero leaning but have more homo romantic leanings or homo investment. While tons of different things can motivate people. And if prejudice, family pressures, hetero pressures/expectations, masculine fragility, queer shame are still substantial issues now, imagine what they were decades ago. So, yes, some men can be entirely homosexual and entirely homo-leaning when it comes to the sexual, romantic attachment, emotional investment, commitment contentment spectrum but still indulge hetero commitments. Trying to get to the “truth” is futile. People are complicated and f-ed up. All we have is guesswork and what people presented. Most of everything else is identity politics, and that includes folks obsessed with pushing “bi pride” on every long dead “queer” male who entered a hetero commitment decades ago.
Kangol2
Leonard Bernstein actually mulled whether it might be possible to live as an openly gay man when he was young, so saying that he was “gay” is not a misnomer. He did marry a woman and fathered three children, yet had brief and extended relationships with men for much of his adult life, even leaving his wife in 1976 to live with his then partner. He only returned as his wife became very ill, and he nursed her until her death in 1978. From then until his death in 1990, he continued relationships with various men. This is not my conjecture, it’s documented and buttressed by his children’s accounts of their father’s life.
abfab
Felinni movies include a few large-beaked Italians. Wanna see some large noses…visit Sicily. La Dolce Vita!
Jeffrey
Bernstein referred to himself as gay as others also referred to him as gay. He used his wife as a beard for his many affairs with men at a time when being gay could cause him to lose his position.
linedrive
Hes an ACTOR who is ACTING. Any person he plays in a movie is someone he actually isn’t. Because he’s an actor who is acting.
Rogchef
Exactly
jr84
If we know he had sex with (cisgender) men and women, how do we make the leap from bisexual to “more broadly queer?” If someone identifies as queer, fine, but that’s a personal choice.
More and more, I’m seeing gay, lesbian, and bisexual people branded as queer and it’s really not an ok assumption to make that everyone is ok with that term.
abfab
Who is making that assumption?
jr84
@abfab Third paragraph of this very article
abfab
@jr84
”or more broadly, queer”. That’s not an assumption. It’s a fact. One that will take many of you your whole life time to swallow and digest. We get it. You, like many have a problem with queer. Don’t make that anyone elses problem. Lenny was all over the place, all over the world and all over many scenes. He had fun. Are you?
inbama
Ethnicity has nothing t do with what’s really wrong here.
If Bernstein had looked like Cooper with that ridiculous prosthetic, he wouldn’t have had men and women lining up to sleep with him.
I’ve got to give Carey Mulligan and Matt Bohmer a lot of credit for not bursting into laughter just looking at him. I couldn’t help myself just watching the trailer.
abfab
I bet you have a line around the block waiting to get into your bed.
Man About Town
Matt would probably also laugh at how you (mis)spelled his last name!
Bosch
“he wouldn’t have had men and women lining up to sleep with him.”
Nonsense. Don’t you know what they say about guys with big noses?
Kangol2
The prosthetic is absurd but large noses on men are hardly a bar to attractiveness. Do you know how many men with large noses are considered very attractive by large numbers of people? Among White actors alone, you could list Adrien Brody, Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Tom Cruise, Jeff Goldblum, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Mangianello, Adam Driver, etc. all have large or very large noses and all have been considered sex symbols at various points. Even Robert Redford, as WASPY as you get, has a sizable, slightly hooked nose. And let’s not even get into BIPOC actors, many of them gorgeous, who have large noses. Sheesh!
abfab
And Kangol..howzabout Better Midler’s nose and FACE! Stunning. Or Carly Simon’s mouth! Or Joni Mitchell’s teeth! Mick Jagger’s lips!
”Barry Manilow!!!!!! That nose on him! If he was on hard drugs he could inhale Peru”
-Joan Rivers
I’m sorry, but pretty people are over rated and yes, I’m talking to you Taylor Swift.
BlueRamirez
This is getting out of control. Someday, those so-called ‘guardians of fairness,’ who are essentially activists and critics of “correctness”, might request the individual to portray themselves in the cinematic retelling of their life story. ?????
dbmcvey
I don’t care about calling Bernstein “queer” but please stop referring to actors playing gay roles as “gay for pay.”
abfab
Another loosing battle. Some of the Gays here really are queer……..and not that bright.
leewah
Speaking of actors appropriating identities that aren’t theirs, I’m still trying to recover from Gaga using a Natasha-and-Boris Russian accent in the Gucci movie when her character is supposed to be Italian (when she hisses “Don’t mees!” at the hitmen, I just about lose it).
Fahd
I don’t know if Cooper himself had final say — that might make the mistake easier to fathom– but the prosthetic is a big, big mistake. The shape is right, but it’s much more prominent than Bernstein’s nose actually was. So what’s the point? Very distracting. If it wasn’t Cooper who greenlit the nose, some heads should roll. And this group should stay away from anything having to do with Jimmy Durante.
salumbre
Bradley Cooper is an actor playing a character. This ridiculousness needs to die the fiery death it deserves.
I do have a problem with that schnozzle, though. Like the gigantic teeth Rami Malek wore in Bohemian Rhapsody, it is WAY more prominent than the original, and I’m not surprised people are even bringing up antisemitist.
abfab
Could it be our over the top Gay DESIGNERS! Someone in makeup needs to take the blame. It’s Hollywood. Hello! It’s generating buzz. They should thank us.
ALL
Automobile in America,
Chromium steel in America,
Wire-spoke wheel in America,
Very big deal in America!
ROSALIA
I’ll drive a Buick through San Juan.
ANITA
If there’s a road you can drive on.
ROSALIA
I’ll give my cousins a free ride.
ANITA
How you get all of them inside?
ALL
Immigrant goes to America,
Many hellos in America;
Nobody knows in America
Puerto Rico’s in America!
abfab
I will draw the line with Jimmy Durante’s nose. Someone above mentioned him with no explanation.
Also, Karl Maldon. Nice guy, but the nose, no. That bothered me.
Diana Vreeland. Nothing needs to be said. Stunning profile. Stunning life.
Adrian Brody can tickle my ivory and day of the week.
Adam Driver.
There’s more, care to add?
Pietro D
Critics are very UPSET with Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic NOSE and have referenced it as
Anti-Semiticim. I DO NOT AGREE WITH THAT ASSESSMENT!
abfab
So….you question authority? Such valor!
inbama
Speaking of noses, the evil critic John Simon once said of Streisand:
“She’s become an inspiration to hordes of middle-aged women who feel equal to her in full face and superior in profile.”
abfab
Feeling equal to Barbra..sure John Simon.
Donston
More than anything, the nose just looks awkward. It’s clearly not his nose. They could have done a bit better with prosthetics or just not done a fake nose. As far as Cooper playing this role, more power to him. I’m not particularly invested in the film in general. It seems Hollywood can’t give us “queer Oscar bait” without it being centered on a hetero commitment and/or a tragic “gay romance”. I’m tired of it, even if the film ends up being decent. At this point, it just comes off like queer exploitation for Oscar gold. I felt the same way about “The Whale.” Playing Jewish, a “queer” in a troubled hetero marriage and wearing a prosthetic- Cooper wants that an Oscar gold bad.
dbmcvey
Now I feel like I’m just going to be staring at the nose through the whole movie.
abfab
See
Leonard Bernstein: The Gift of Music (1993) (French subtitles)
One of many docus on the nose, no sorry, man!