Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer to start filming in UK this May

Titled Maestro, the biopic sees Bradley Cooper take the helm as director, co-writer of the screenplay and lead star playing Bernstein. The project follows Cooper’s Oscar winning directorial debut, A Star is Born.

Maestro also stars British stage and screen actress Carey Mulligan as his ex wife, artist Felicia Montealegre, and Matt Bomer as one of Leonard Bernstein’s male lovers.

Originally Steven Spielberg was attached to direct Maestro, but Bradley Cooper took over as both director and star.

Bernstein died in 1990 at 72, and had three children with artist Felicia Montealegre. However, after Bernstein’s death it was revealed that his wife acknowledged that he was gay and had sexual relationships with men, even though Bernstein never confirmed this.

The movie will premiere in cinemas and on Netflix, but doesn’t yet have a UK or US release date. Producers are Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger and Fred Berner and Amy Durning.

Jake Gyllenhaal was also tapped to play Bernstein in a movie titled The American, directed by Cary Fukunaga, although no recent news has been released about the project.

Bernstein composed the music for West Side Story, one of the Twentieth Century’s greatest musicals, conceived by Jerome Robbins with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Steven Sondheim directed a new movie version released in 2021, which has been nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.