Oscar-winning make-up artist Kazu Hiro has said that he “feels sorry” for the backlash that came after fitting Bradley Cooper with a prosthetic nose in the upcoming film Maestro.
Based on the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein, the latest trailer for the film has been heavily criticised, with Cooper’s prosthetic being touted by some as anti-Semitic ‘Jewface’.
Hiro, speaking at the Venice Film Festival press conference for the film, said he wasn’t expecting such backlash, and wanted Cooper to look “as real as possible” in his portrayal of Bernstein, per Deadline.
“I feel sorry if I hurt some people’s feelings,” he said. “I wanted to portray Lenny as real as possible. He’s photogenic and a great person, we wanted to respect and love that look. We did several different tests. That was our [only] intention.”
However, Bernstein’s children have all been vocal in their defence of Cooper’s prosthetics, saying they worked alongside the actor to help build how their father was depicted in the film.
“We were touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment, his loving embrace of our father’s music, and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration,” the joint statement from Jamie, Alexander, and Nina Berstein read.
“It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose,” they continued. “Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.”
Maestro will have a limited theatre run in November, before arriving on Netflix on December 2nd.
