Maestro stars Bradley Cooper as the legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. With music at its core, Bradley went full method for the role, and as well as writing and directing the movie, Cooper had to learn how to play the piano to keep the film authentic. Just how well he manages to tickle the ivories has become a point of contention, but he certainly learned enough that several sees feature him actually playing the piano, even if the final version of the movie doesn’t use his version.
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Does Bradley Cooper play the piano in Maestro?
Movie magic often leads to productions managing to convince viewers that actors are playing instruments when they are doing nothing of the sort, however, Cooper was a hundred percent committed to the role and decided that to keep his performance real, he would learn some of the skills that Bernstein had, including conducting and playing the piano.
In an interview with Classic FM, Cooper explained that in the scene that features Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland (played by Brian Clements), both actors were playing the song for the scene. Cooper states, “We spent months learning that piece, and that’s us playing.”
Did Bradley Cooper learn the piano for Maestro?
Cooper spent months learning how to play the piano for the scenes in the film that required him to do so. He is, after all, no stranger to music, after his performance with Lady Gaga in the remake of A Star is Born, so he did have some background that would help in this new role.
Cooper wanted to be sure that the film would be able to focus on long shots of him playing the piano without having to cut back and forth to edited shots of someone else’s hands doing all the hard work. The only way to do this would be to make sure that he could at least play the song that the scene required for real.
Did the finished version use Cooper’s performance?
The interview with Classic FM would see Cooper explaining that although he did learn how to play the song, what the audience hears during this shot is not his own work. He explains that a “much better version” was played over the scene instead.
So, although you will see Cooper’s hands hitting all the right keys, in the right order, a more tuneful version of the number was used in the final edit.
What else did Bradley Cooper learn for the role?
Leonard Bernstein is probably more well-known as a conductor, and Cooper would also have to learn the techniques that are used in the profession. Once again, it was decided that rather than having to cut and edit from a professional conductor back to shots of Cooper, a film technique that can be jarring when used too much, Cooper would take the time to perfect the body language and actions of Bernstein himself.
He would study under Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who was the director of the Metropolitan Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra, and under his tutelage, he managed to become a convincing conductor.
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