Before Greta Gerwig’s highly publicized Oscar snub for “Barbie” in best director, along with her leading lady Margot Robbie in best actress, there have been dozens of shocking snubs in Academy Awards history.
From the double-hitter of Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow in 2012 to the recent jaw-dropper of Denis Villeneuve and any of the many Christopher Nolan absences, there have been many notable names who haven’t heard their names called on nomination morning during the modern era of Oscar.
Casual cinephiles and the general public tend to forget how tough it is to make the top five of anything. Acknowledging that the Directors Branch has consistently overlooked women and people of color, there has been some improvement over the years. The stone-cold fact remains: We’re not there yet.
As of 2024, comedies and horror films are still criminally underrepresented, while animated and documentary filmmakers have yet to be noticed. There have been non-fiction films worthy of attention throughout the years, such as Werner Herzog’s devastating look at two bear activists killed in Alaska in “Grizzly Bear” (2005) and Joshua Oppenheimer’s reenactment of mass killings in Indonesia with “The Act of Killing” (2012). Andrew Stanton’s gorgeous exploration of love between two robots in “Wall-E” (2008) might be the closest we’ve ever come to an animated director landing a nom, while Lee Unkrich’s “Toy Story 3” shows how you elevate beloved characters despite being a third outing in a franchise.
While many of us can share the name of a filmmaker who has truly ground our gears, the ones reflected in this piece were heavily favored on multiple prediction lists during their respective years.
Here, Variety looks back at the 15 biggest director snubs of the last 25 years.
Honorable mentions: Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”); Luca Guadgnino (“Call Me by Your Name”); Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”); Bennett Miller (“Moneyball”)
Dee Rees – ‘Mudbound’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix/Steve Dietl
One of the first significant pushes by Netflix when it entered the film awards game was Dee Rees’ racial and class drama “Mudbound.” Coming after her stunning debut “Pariah,” she shines a light on two families in post-World War II Mississippi, bringing an evocative and powerful story to life. The film made history in various ways — Rachel Morrison became the first woman nominated for cinematography, star Mary J. Blige was the first person nominated for acting and song in the same year, and Rees herself was the first Black woman nominated for adapted screenplay (which she shared with co-writer Virgil Williams). The directing effort couldn’t get enough traction, leaving her luscious work on the outskirts.
Who got nominated instead: Paul Thomas Anderson (“Phantom Thread”), Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”), Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”), Christopher Nolan (“Dunkirk”), Jordan Peele (“Get Out”)
Peter Jackson – ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’
People tend to forget that despite the epic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy receiving three consecutive best picture nominations for each of its entries, that wasn’t the case for director Peter Jackson. The New Zealand native constructed “Helm’s Deep,” the 40-minute battle sequence that set the record for the most extensive and extended in film history. Author J.R.R. Tolkien’s story is fully realized with over 200,000 fighting characters that keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The DGA recognized the merits of his vision, but the smaller directors’ branch looked elsewhere.
Who got nominated instead: Pedro Almodóvar (“Talk to Her”), Stephen Daldry (“The Hours”), Rob Marshall (“Chicago”), Roman Polanski (“The Pianist”), Martin Scorsese (“Gangs of New York”)
Shaka King – ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Glen Wilson
The Academy extended its eligibility year in 2020 to accommodate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Hollywood industry. Many may recall “Nomadland” sweeping the awards season, eventually going on to win best picture. Oscar observers might not know that Shaka King’s period thriller, which looks at how the F.B.I. hunted and murdered Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton, was the likely runner-up. One of the final films to release in February 2021, it went on to win supporting actor for Daniel Kaluuya and a surprise trophy for the original song “Fight for You” by H.E.R.
While it was disappointing to not hear King’s name on nomination morning, it made history as the first all-Black producing team to be recognized by the Oscars, including his fellow producers Charles King and Ryan Coogler.
Who got nominated instead: Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”), Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”), David Fincher (“Mank”), Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”), Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris – ‘Little Miss Sunshine’
Comedies always finish last. Married filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ heartwarming comedy about a quirky family en route to a beauty pageant still resonates years later. Their direction expertly navigates the dysfunctional dynamics of the Hoover family, making intricate choices on when to focus on any of the ensemble members, including Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Oscar-winner Alan Arkin. The characters and clever humor (thanks to Michael Arndt’s script) allow Dayton and Faris to show off their skills in bringing a unique and endearing story to life. The PGA and SAG winning film, which also garnered a DGA nom, came up short in the end.
Who got nominated instead: Clint Eastwood (“Letters from Iwo Jima”), Stephen Frears (“The Queen”), Paul Greengrass (“United 93”), Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Babel”), Martin Scorsese (“The Departed”)
Joe Wright – ‘Atonement’
Image Credit: Alex Bailey/Focus Features/Kobal
Joe Wright’s sophomore directorial feature effort after the beautiful adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” (2005) was the visual stunner known as “Atonement.” Wright’s directorial prowess in the period drama that stars James McAvoy and Keira Knightley sees him assuredly stitching together the delicate narrative penned by Christopher Hampton. However, his team of artisans, most notably seen in a five-minute tracking shot with breathtaking cinematography by Seamus McGarvey, remains the most memorable. Seven Oscar noms later, the British auteur was left on the outskirts.
Who got nominated instead: Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood”), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (“No Country for Old Men”), Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”), Jason Reitman (“Juno”), Julian Schnabel (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”)
Barry Jenkins – ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures; Treatment: Variety
Aside from the animated feature “Up,” I can’t recall a movie that made me shed tears in the first 10 minutes. Barry Jenkins’ follow-up to his best picture winner “Moonlight” (2016) depicts Black love sincerely and deliberately. Against the backdrop of Nicholas Britell’s all-time original score and one of the finest ensembles of 2013, the movie has only grown in estimation as time has elapsed. The Oscars did give Regina King her overdue and deserved Oscar for supporting actress, so I must recognize what they did right.
Morever, the film was not nominated for best picture, so it’s hard not to still be bitter about the Academy passing over what I feel is the finest film of the 2010s. Yes, I said it.
Who got nominated instead: Alfonso Cuarón (“Roma”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”), Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”), Adam McKay (“Vice”), Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”)
Spike Jonze – ‘Her’
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Listen, I could write a dissertation on why Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis” was virtually shut out of the Oscars, but it’s hard to ignore that the same year Spike Jonze brought originality and emotion to the screen with “Her,” the response wasn’t more pronounced.
The futuristic romantic drama looks at a man (Joaquin Phoenix) who develops a relationship with an artificial intelligence assistant (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) and builds a world grounded in reality in an upgraded version of Los Angeles. With Hoyte van Hoytema’s memorable camera work, Jonze’s direction stands out in a year that got most items right but left one colossal name on the table. That was Jonze.
Who got nominated instead: Alfonso Cuarón (“Gravity”), Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”), Alexander Payne (“Nebraska”), David O. Russell (“American Hustle”), Martin Scorsese (“The Wolf of Wall Street”)
Regina King – ‘One Night in Miami’
Image Credit: Patti Perret
At the height of the global pandemic in 2020, the precursors and the industry pundits were all indicating Regina King’s directorial debut in “One Night in Miami,” the story of a real-life meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke, would make King the first Black woman nominated for best director. However, the stars failed to align with the film, only mustering noms for supporting actor (Leslie Odom Jr.), adapted screenplay (Kemp Powers), and original song. Although the Golden Globes and the DGA’s first-time directing category highlighted her achievements, the Oscar-winning star of “If Beale Street Could Talk” faced a similar fate that many actors-turned-directors encountered. Can’t wait for her next joint.
Who got nominated instead: Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”), Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”), David Fincher (“Mank”), Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”), Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Baz Luhrmann – ‘Moulin Rouge!’
In 2002, the Academy dropped a pair of enormous directing snubs. One was Todd Field for his outstanding debut “In the Bedroom,” and the other was Baz Luhrmann for his jukebox musical “Moulin Rouge.” Bold colors, beautiful costumes and a remarkable ensemble headlined by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor should have made the Australian auteur a shoo-in.
Who got nominated instead: Robert Altman (“Gosford Park”), Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”), Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”), David Lynch (“Mulholland Drive”), Ridley Scott (“Black Hawk Down”)
Bradley Cooper – ‘A Star is Born’
Image Credit: Clay Enos
Many “A Star Is Born” fans were shocked when debut director Bradley Cooper didn’t earn an Oscar nod for the film, something Cooper admitted he was “embarrassed” by. Perhaps the Academy should be as well. Racking up eight nominations, the multiple-time acting nominee became one of the latest actor-turned-directors passed over by the branch, including Ben Affleck, Angelina Jolie and Ron Howard.
Nonetheless, with co-star Lady Gaga, the two made magic on the Oscars stage with the rendition of the Oscar-winning track “Shallow.” Cooper went for another swing with his take on famed musician Leonard Bernstein in “Maestro,” duplicating the same results with nominations for best picture, actor, and screenplay but missing out on directing. Next one?
Ben Affleck’s gripping thriller that combines historical events with a Hollywood twist is cemented in the history books as a best picture winner. But Affleck only nabbed one Oscar nom that year as a producer and was ignored for his visceral direction.
In 2012, “Argo” was his third directorial entry following his engrossing features “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Town,” which only nabbed a single acting bid each for supporting players Amy Ryan and Jeremy Renner. His thriller was an across-the-board contender and went on to win statuettes for adapted screenplay (Chris Terrio) and film editing.
His last efforts with “Air” were also worthy but failed to catch on this past season. Will he ever be officially recognized for his directing talents? It’s too soon to tell.
Who got nominated instead: Michael Haneke (“Amour”), Ang Lee (“Life of Pi”), David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Steven Spielberg (“Lincoln”), Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”)
Kathryn Bigelow – ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” is a riveting depiction of the hunt for Osama bin Laden and also became known for the one-two punch of both her and Ben Affleck being snubbed for best director that year. Bigelow became the first woman to win best director for “The Hurt Locker” (2009) and would have been the first woman to garner two nomination bids. However, a much-publicized smear campaign and controversy surrounding the film’s depictions of torture would derail its momentum. “Zero” star Jessica Chastain spoke about on the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast back in 2022, referring to disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Nonetheless, Bigelow’s visionary work, which led the precursors in 2012, is still a revered and respected piece that should have garnered the nom (and possibly win?) it deserved.
Who got nominated instead: Michael Haneke (“Amour”), Ang Lee (“Life of Pi”), David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Steven Spielberg (“Lincoln”), Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”)
OscarsSoWhite became a stain on the Academy’s legacy when voters failed to nominate any actors of color in 2015. Also snubbed was “Selma,” Ava DuVernay’s look at Martin Luther King Jr., who led the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. With a star-making turn from David Oyelowo as the slain figure, the film had Oscar bait written all over it. However, it only managed to break into two categories: best picture and original song for the “Glory” track, which it won. Until today, no Black woman has been nominated for directing, and seeing how DuVernay’s “Origin” was also shut out by the Academy, it’s disappointing we still haven’t had one break into the lineup.
Who got nominated instead: Wes Anderson (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”), Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Birdman”), Richard Linklater (“Boyhood”), Bennett Miller (“Foxcatcher”), Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”)
Denis Villeneuve – ‘Dune’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chia Bella James/War
“Dune” is one of five movies in history to be nominated in every technical Oscar category and the only one of those to not garner a mention for its director. Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic is a testament to meticulous world-building and what you can do when passion and talent coincide. The Canadian auteur was widely expected to land in the best director category after the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and DGA all nominated him. Not only one of the most shocking omissions for a filmmaker, Villenueve’s miss is one of the most notable in any category in the history of the Academy. With two follow-ups on the way, there’s still time for the Academy to recognize Villeneuve.
Who got nominated instead: Paul Thomas Anderson (“Licorice Pizza”), Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”), Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”), Steven Spielberg (“West Side Story”)
Christopher Nolan – ‘The Dark Knight’
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
It’s the snub that changed the Academy Awards forever.
Christopher Nolan redefined the superhero genre with “The Dark Knight,” his sequel to the 2005 entry “Batman Begins.” Transcending the boundaries of comic book adaptations, it boasted an iconic performance by the late Heath Ledger, who went on to win best supporting actor. Many believed that the auteur, who had already been passed over for “Memento,” and then later in his career again for “Inception,” would garner the recognition many believed he deserved. The branch had other plans, leaving the film ignored in the top categories of best picture, director and screenplay, despite a hefty eight other noms. Nolan was not among any of them.
The following year, the Oscars expanded the best picture category from five to 10 nominees, but Nolan wouldn’t get his first directing bid until “Dunkirk” before he returned once again with “Oppenheimer” (2023).
Who got nominated instead: Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), Stephen Daldry (“The Reader”), David Fincher (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Ron Howard (“Frost/Nixon”), Gus Van Sant (“Milk”)
It used to be that first came love, then came marriage. These days, the trajectory of a modern celebrity relationship is typically along the lines of “first comes unnamed sources quoted saying so-and-so are hanging out and keeping it casual but really really like each other, then comes grainy paparazzi snaps of public displays of affection.” Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper are now at that second stage of courtship, and were photographed holding hands while out and about in London Thursday.
The two have been romantically linked since October 2023, but this is the first PDA the public has seen from the couple. Cooper has a 6-year-old daughter with ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk, and was previously married to Jennifer Esposito for less than a year, from 2006 to 2007. He is 49. Hadid, 29, also has a 3-year-old daughter, whom she shares with her ex-boyfriend Zayn Malik, a former member of bygone boy band One Direction. Cooper received a Best Picture and Best Actor nomination this week from the Academy Awards for Maestro, which he directed in addition to taking the starring role.
Of course, Hadid and Cooper have been previously spotted out and about together, having dinner or just walking around or boarding a jet with suitcases in New York City, as they were Tuesday, but this is the first documented bit of affectionate physical contact we’ve seen between the two, their hands linked as they strolled the streets of London, both bundled up and wearing sunglasses despite the winter gloom.
And those unnamed sources, they’re all about the match: “Their relationship is on steroids,” a source told Page Six back in November, saying that “they are together every day.” Might we see Hadid filling a seat at the Maestro table come Oscar night? Only time will tell.
To Kill a Tiger, a riveting Canadian documentary crafted by Nisha Pahuja, has made its majestic roar at the Oscars by securing a nomination in the Best Documentary Feature Film category of the 96th Academy Awards. With the backdrop set in Jharkhand, India, this sobering story revolves around a family relentlessly seeking justice for their 13-year-old daughter, a victim of a brutal rape crime by three men. The cinematic narration delves deep into the societal and legal obstacles faced by the affected family, shining a spotlight on the culturally embedded issues that turn a blind eye to violence against women. Also Read – Oscars 2024 Nominees: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and others nominated; Barbie, Oppenheimer dominate the list
The documentary first aired its social dilemma to the audience at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, cinching the title of Best Canadian Film. It further racked up laurels such as the Inspiring Voices and Perspectives award at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival and two Canadian Screen Awards for Best Feature Length Documentary and Best Editing in a Documentary. Praise for To Kill a Tiger echoed from critics at Stir, CityNews, and Northern Stars, while comedian and producer Mindy Kaling hailed it as a “triumph” to be witnessed by all. Also Read – Dunki at Oscars 2024: Shah Rukh Khan, Rajkumar Hirani planning to submit the film for main categories?
Amongst the group of 15 movies that progressed in the Documentary Feature Film category out of the eligible 167 films at the Oscars, To Kill a Tiger marks its presence. Joining the list are other engaging narratives like American Symphony, Apolonia, Beyond Utopia, Bobi Wine: The People’s President, Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, and more remarkable documentaries.
About Oscars 2024
The Oscars 2024 red carpet will unroll on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California as the 96th Academy Awards unfurls. Telecasted live on ABC and universally across 200+ territories, the event will have comedian Jimmy Kimmel as the host for the fourth time. The production chair occupied by Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan and directorial reins held by Hamish Hamilton. As actors Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid reveal the nominees in various categories such as Best Picture and Best Actress on January 23, 2024, “To Kill A Tiger” is set to compete with awaited cinema pieces like Killers of the Flower Moon, and Barbie.
The societal mirror that To Kill a Tiger is, highlights the deep-seated issue of sexual violence against women, prevalent not just in India but globally. Beyond being a mere film, it’s a call for change and a manifesto challenging the rampant social evil. Lauded, celebrated, and a potential history-maker at the Oscars; To Kill a Tiger is indeed a movie with a mission.
The 2024 Golden Globe Awards promise high honors to some of the year’s best in film and television — Barbenheimer, “Succession,” “The Crown” and Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” movie are just a few standouts that earned big nominations. With the expected celebration comes the possibility of a fresh start for the Globes, an awards ceremony trying to rebuild its image in the wake of controversy that prompted an overhaul of changes to the show and how it operates.
For the first time in decades, the Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast live on CBS this Sunday, Jan. 7, from 8-11 p.m. ET (5-8 p.m. PT), with the comedian Jo Koy as host. The ceremony will also be available to stream on Paramount+ and the CBS app. Paramount Global is the parent company of CBS.
The network shift followed an end to NBC’s longstanding partnership with the Golden Globes, after the show faced widespread criticism and boycotts over allegations of racism and corruption within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that ran the Globes for decades and voted annually to select nominees and winners.
The HFPA has since dissolved and the Globes, in turn, has come under new leadership with a clear focus on expanding diversity. Its current voting body consists of 300 entertainment journalists from 75 countries, according to the awards show.
“I’m most interested in the tone of the awards show,” said Aramide Tinubu, a TV critic at Variety who has also covered film. “I’m interested to see, will the Globes continue to be a fun, off-the-wall ceremony as it’s always been, or is it going to be a little bit more buttoned-up or taken a little bit more seriously?”
Golden Globes ceremonies were historically known as Hollywood’s lighthearted “party of the year,” signaling that awards season had begun. Its somewhat unpredictable nominations and winners often stood apart from other awards shows along the path to the Oscars, and now, with different leadership, voters, and two new categories, the outcome of any competition is that much more of a toss-up. Here are the top races to watch.
Best motion picture
The award for best motion picture is given to two winners in two separate categories.
Unlike the Oscars, coming up in March, the Golden Globes splits its major film contenders into two categories: musical or comedy films in one, and dramas in another. That means the Barbenheimer rivalry that gave rise to its own cultural moment over the summer may not take center stage on Sunday to the extent it could later this awards season, when the blockbusters will be eligible to compete against each other for top honors.
Still, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”, in the musical or comedy category, and Christopher Nolan’s drama “Oppenheimer” dominate the Globes nominations, with nine nods for “Barbie” and eight for “Oppenheimer,” and how their winnings eventually shake out is going to be a major focal point of the night.
In addition to box office success and critical acclaim, “Barbie” fueled an aesthetic craze over the color pink that for a time seemed to take over the world. Its fellow contenders for best musical or comedy film are Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction,” Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Ben Affleck’s “Air.”
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” were the films of the summer, with the Barbenheimer phenomenon born out of their dueling popularity. Both movies are neck-and-neck as contenders at the 2024 Golden Globes.
Chris Pizzello / AP
“Oppenheimer,” the dark WWII saga that, like “Barbie,” drew audiences to theaters in droves, will compete for the award for best drama. It’s contending with some heavy-hitters: Martin Scorcese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall.”
“I think that overall, ‘Barbie’ might take home more prizes than ‘Oppenheimer,’” said Tinubu, citing the staggering popularity of Gerwig’s movie. The fact that they’ll compete in separate categories for the Globes’ top film awards could potentially favor “Barbie,” she added.
“I can’t call ‘Oppenheimer’ necessarily for drama, because it’s up against ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and it’s up against ‘Maestro’ and ‘Past Lives,’” Tinubu said. “I do think ‘Barbie’ might have an angle over ‘Poor Things’ and ‘American Fiction’ and ‘May December,’ only because it’s more seen and widely-known. ‘American Fiction’ and ‘Poor Things’ are fantastic but I think it might prevail there.”
Cinematic and box office achievement
The Golden Globes debuted two new categories this year: one for cinematic and box office achievement, and a second for TV stand-up comedy performance.
The first recognizes “nominees from among the year’s highest-earning and/or most-viewed films that have gained extensive global audience support and produced exceptional creative content,” the awards show said in a statement.
It may seem “Barbie” is a shoo-in to win the prize in this category, since the film won fanfare in addition to $1.4 billion in gross ticket sales that placed it among the top 15 box office hits of all time, in the U.S. and worldwide. But, owing in part to a lucrative box office year that approached pre-pandemic sales, there are other strong contenders in this race, too.
“Barbie” star Margot Robbie is photographed during a photocall for the film “Barbie” in Los Angeles on June 25, 2023.
MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS
Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” had already raked in hundreds of millions by the end of their opening weekend showdown last July. “Barbie,” which had an edge even then, ultimately ranked as the highest-grossing film of the year, according to Box Office Mojo, while “Oppenheimer” trailed closely behind on the global box office list, ranking third after “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which nearly paced with “Barbie.”
The animated film based on Nintendo’s popular video game franchise is nominated alongside Barbenheimer for the cinematic and box office achievement award, joining several of last year’s leading earners. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1” and “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” round out this category.
Taylor Swift performs during “The Eras Tour” in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 5, 2023.
George Walker IV / AP
Swift’s concert film could potentially give “Barbie” a run for its money. The movie follows her along the “Eras Tour,” her ludicrously successful international performance series that’s drawn millions to stadiums across five continents (including one venue in Seattle where the crowd of excited Swifties caused minor seismic activity). The tour itself became the first ever to surpass $1 billion in revenue, and at one point the Federal Reserve actually credited it with helping to revitalize the U.S. economy.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” went on to shatter box office records in just over two months since its premiere, which was the latest of any film nominated for this award, and the film’s distributor AMC Theaters has called it the highest-grossing concert movie in history. The “Eras Tour,” in concert and film form, was also a defining cultural moment in 2023, and Swift in December was named Spotify’s most-streamed artist and TIME’s person of the year.
Best TV drama series
The Golden Globe award for best television drama series could be a tight race, as it pits a handful of decorated old-timers against hopeful newcomers that made quite a splash with their releases in 2023.
“Succession,” HBO’s hit satire about a dysfunctional family’s media dynasty, is a frontrunner in this category. The series returns this year as a six-time Golden Globes winner and 18-time nominee, which has twice taken home the award for best television drama. Whether the buzz surrounding its farewell season will translate into yet another awards show sweep for “Succession” remains to be seen, but the series already leads the Globes’ television nominations, with nine nods, as it does the nominations for the Emmy Awards coming up the following week.
Brian Cox in “Succession,” the HBO satire about a family media dynasty that leads television nominations at the Golden Globes this year, with nine nods across multiple categories.
David Russell/HBO
Competing with “Succession” for the award for best drama is “The Crown,” another acclaimed series about a powerful and often dysfunctional lineage that is also a darling of the awards circuit and just finished its final season. A 23-time nominee and seven-time winner at the Globes, “The Crown,” like “Succession,” has won the prize twice in this category, although the two series have only been nominated once at the same time.
“The Morning Show,” a nine-time Globes nominee that has earned nods in this category for each of its three seasons, will also contend for the prize again alongside “The Last of Us,” “The Diplomat” and “1923,” all of which debuted last year and were met with widespread praise.
Actors Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, who co-star in “The Last of Us,” attend an event for the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles on April 28, 2023.
Photo by FilmMagic/FilmMagic for HBO via Getty Images
Tinubu said gauging the outcome of this particular race would be challenging, considering the track records of both “Succession” and “The Crown” and the potential of “The Last of Us,” HBO’s video game adaptation that pulled remarkable global ratings and largely earned rave reviews. She predicted the prize this year will go to one of those three nominees.
Best director
Films directed by women still make up a small minority of box office hits, though a handful break the glass ceiling. Results of a study released by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative showed less than 9% of the top-grossing film directors were women in 2022, a figure that marked progress nonetheless from 2007, when women directed just 2.7% of the year’s biggest films.
Part of the historic success of “Barbie” was the fact that it was headed by Gerwig, who in August became the first woman to direct a film that surpassed $1 billion in ticket sales. Gerwig has earned praise before as the director of “Lady Bird” and “Little Women,” but this is her first time being nominated in the director’s category at the Globes. One other woman is nominated in the category this year: Celine Song, the South Korean-Canadian playwright who made her directorial debut with the festival hit “Past Lives.”
They are competing against Martin Scorcese, a 10-time nominee and three-time winner in this category, for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and Christopher Nolan, a three-time nominee, for “Oppenheimer.” Bradley Cooper, nominated for “Maestro,” marking his return to the category for a second time after receiving a nod in 2019 for “A Star is Born,” his directorial debut. Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek director known for his acclaimed dark comedies “The Lobster” and “The Favourite,” received a nod for the first time in this Globes category for “Poor Things.”
“I’d kind of be shocked if Christopher Nolan or Martin Scorcese took home anything, only because I feel like it would be too obvious,” said Tinubu. Noting that Hollywood accolades have notoriously overlooked women directors, she suggested Gerwig could win the prize, if not Cooper, who she, along with vocal fans at the time, felt was snubbed in awards circles over “A Star Is Born.”
“I also would love for Celine Song to get it for ‘Past Lives,’ which I think is also excellent,” she said. “And I actually love ‘Poor Things’ as well. I think the director has such a singular vision, but I don’t know if he’s going to be able to usurp the ‘Barbie’ of it all.”
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
The interview takes place over three continents. There’s one virtual zoom window overlooking four living rooms: Two in New York, one in New Zealand, and one at THR Roma‘s office in Italy.
Maestro, Bradley Cooper‘s take on the life, personal and professional, of legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan, has just dropped worldwide on Netflix. Bernstein’s three children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina, have gathered to talk about the movie and their memories.
The siblings took center stage at the Venice Film Festival this year, leaping up after the film’s screening to jokingly conduct the bombastic standing ovation that greeted the film’s world premiere, imitating their father’s atypical and vibrant conducting style.
“It was cathartic in a moment when joy and tears, memories and pain were overwhelming,” says Alexander. “We became children again. And of course, we had to fill those seven minutes of applause with something!” Adds Nina: “We just did what used to happen when the Overture of Candide was on TV, we watched our father and imitated him in the living room.”
The trio speak in unison, finishing each other’s sentences, and picking up a word or comment to spin off in another direction. Always, incredibly, in tune. A tiny orchestra. Thousands of miles and two oceans divide them, but they sound like the kids shown in Maestro, chattering on the lawns of the Bernstein family estate in Connecticut.
“Do you know, that they actually filmed there?” says Alexander. “It was strange for us, surreal. Nina said it’s like those dreams you have when you’re in your house, but it somehow isn’t your house. My parents were there, but they sort of weren’t my parents. It was like a dream.”
“We would see Bradley and Carey there, and they would come already in makeup and stage clothes, to get into character. They would walk around the garden, around the rooms, and to us, it seemed both strange and natural,” says Nina.
Leonard Bernstein and family in Fairfield, CT in June 1996.
Courtesy of Leonard Bernstein collection
“At a screening the other day, when we were photographed with Bradley and Carey, Jamie and I looked at each other and said, ‘This is a very strange family picture, our parents are younger than us!’” notes Alexander.
It’s hard to get a word in edgewise. The three go back and forth, mixing personal nostalgia with their enthusiasm for a film that evokes memories both sweet and painful. They reflect on the long journey to get their family’s story to the screen.
“They’ve been trying to make this film for 15 years,” says Alexander. “Originally it was with Martin Scorsese. He kept renewing the option, but no decision was made. Fred Berner and Amy Durning were already attached as producers. We agreed with them, we just asked to be able to read the script, to talk to the writer or the director who would do it.”
“At a certain point it had become a joke between us, all this talk of life rights, of options. We had resigned ourselves to the fact that this film would never be made,” says Jamie.
Alexander picks up: “When everything had stopped moving, when it seemed impossible to bring it to the screen, came the twist: Steven Spielberg. Well before he remade West Side Story, he entered the production team, and it looked like he might go behind the camera as well. The idea of Bradley playing the lead came from him. But the more Bradley got involved in the project, the more he talked to us, the more he felt the story was his.”
Jamie was the first among the siblings to see Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, A Star is Born.
“She just told us: ‘Go see it.’ We did, and we fell out of our chairs,” says Alexander. “We were really impressed with his work. And when we found him in front of us, he was like we imagined him to be after seeing the film: Focused, attentive, committed, and full of generosity.”
“And respectful,” adds Nina. “His approach won us over. When Jamie also met him, and they connected, it was a crescendo. He included us in his work, made sure that we got, without saying anything, all the drafts of the script, and then he screened the work in progress for us at various stages of the project. He asked us a lot of questions, and we tried to not ask for too many corrections. Ultimately, it’s his movie and if he wants to take a certain artistic license, that’s up to him. Only if there was a glaring error would we say: Actually, it happened this way.”
“There was an atmosphere of mutual trust,” Jamie stresses.
The trio quickly brushes over the controversy involving the prosthetic nose Cooper wears to play Bernstein, calling the “scandal” absurd and undeserving of further comment. Much more painful, they say, was watching some of the darkest moments of their parent’s lives revealed on screen.
“The most difficult part, of course, was when our mother gets sick and then dies,” says Jamie. “We had read the script, we knew it would be in the film, but seeing it was a real punch in the gut, even though Bradley handled everything with wonderful delicacy. In shooting it, in narrating it, even and especially in pitching it to us: If we had seen it all at once, in a preview, it would have destroyed us, we would have fallen apart.”
Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in ‘Maestro’
Jason McDonald/Netflix
“I don’t know if by seeing the film I learned more about our family or about Lenny Bernstein,” adds Alexander. “But I do know that I learned a lot about Bradley Cooper. Now we are far enough removed from everything, I think I am able to say that he and our dad are so much alike. A lot more than we could have imagined. There’s the same intensity, focus, and perfectionism. The ability to devote oneself to art around the clock if necessary. Being able to handle tension better than anyone else, not sleeping for days when inspiration comes. The same charisma. And love.”
They pause. They smile at each other as if they were in the same room. And, almost in chorus, they say: “And the hugging. They hug in the same way. They are both full of love, of warmth, of wanting to connect.”
Maestro explores the incredible challenge Felicia Montealegre faced being the wife of the genius Lenny Bernstein. But what is it like to be his children, to bear the responsibility of his legacy?
“It is tremendously difficult,” Nina admits.
“You have expectations of yourself that you can never meet,” says Jamie.
“We had a book when we were little, tiny kids,” Alexander remembers. “On the cover, it was called ‘Just like mommy.’ Then you would turn it upside down and the back cover said, ‘Just like daddy.’ It was all about a businessman getting up in the morning and having breakfast with his children. And his wife is making breakfast. And he goes to work with his briefcase. Takes the train and all that. Just what you would expect. I used to read this book and say, ‘Wow. That sounds like an amazing life.’ But also I just knew there was something else going on in my life, that was pretty extraordinary. And that there was never going to be a book about me being like daddy.”
Bradley Cooper’s eyebrow-raising revelation about his directorial process is being met with a chilly response.
The Oscar-nominated actor and filmmaker recently spoke to Spike Lee as part of Variety’s “Directors on Directors” video series and, in the interview, shared that he’s nixed chairs from the sets of movies he directs.
“There’s no chairs on sets,” Cooper said. “I’ve always hated chairs, and I feel like your energy dips the minute you sit down in the chair. So [an] apple box is a very nice way to sit and everybody’s together.”
He also told Lee that there’s “no video village,” referring to the behind-the-scenes area of a movie set, filled with monitors and screens, that’s typically reserved for the director.
“Anyway, I think every single person on set should get a provided chair, not just cast/video village, because working 12 hour+ days without being allowed to sit down is inhumane,” one person wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan at the “Maestro” premiere in Los Angeles.
David Livingston via Getty Images
Added another: “As a wheelchair-bound actor, I feel like Bradley Cooper wouldn’t let me on set…”
Cooper is riding a wave of award season buzz for “Maestro,” which hits Netflix next week. The film, his directorial follow-up to the 2018 romantic drama “A Star Is Born,” is a biopic of composer Leonard Bernstein (played by Cooper), whose famous works include “West Side Story” and “Candide.”
Among those who allegedly share Cooper’s aversion to chairs is director Christopher Nolan. In 2020, Anne Hathaway ― who starred in Nolan’s films “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Interstellar” ― told Variety that the director “doesn’t allow chairs.”
“His reasoning is, if you have chairs, people will sit, and if they’re sitting, they’re not working,” Hathaway said at the time. She went on to note that she wasn’t completely opposed to Nolan’s approach: “I think he’s onto something with the chair thing.”
A representative of Nolan later told IndieWire that Hathaway’s remarks were misconstrued, clarifying that the director had only ever banned “cell phones (not always successfully) and smoking (very successfully)” from his sets.
Earlier this month, however, Robert Downey Jr. lent credence to Hathaway’s initial claim, telling Variety that there “were no set chairs” while working with Nolan on “Oppenheimer.”
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Actor and filmmaker Bradley Cooper returned to The Howard Stern Show to promote his new biopic, Maestro. Check out his full interview on the SiriusXM app now.During his appearance, Cooper also talked about his failed attempt at getting Howard Stern to play Sam Elliott’s role in A Star Is Born (2018), talked about the Eagles (who currently have the best record in the NFL), and dished on how he records Rocket Raccoon for the popular Marvel franchise Guardians of the Galaxy.
Cooper directed and stars in Maestro, which chronicles the relationship between American composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and his wife, Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). The movie was released in theaters on November 22 and will be available on Netflix on December 20.
Bradley Cooper is open to reprising his role in another installment of the “Hangover” film series.
On a recent episode of “The New Yorker Radio Hour” podcast, host David Remnick spoke to Cooper about his directorial efforts, including “A Star Is Born” and “Maestro,” and pivoting to more dramatic roles. Remnick then asked Cooper, “Are you done with fun? In other words, if another kinda fun comic role came along, it was three months of your life, it’s not ‘Hangover 5’ but something of a similar spirit.”
“Well, I would do ‘Hangover 5,’” Cooper responded. “It would be ‘Hangover 4’ first, but yeah,” he said with a laugh.
“You would do that in a flash? Not just to pay the bills,” Remnick asked.
“I would probably do ‘Hangover 4’ in an instant,” Cooper said. “Just because I love Todd [Phillips], I love Zach [Galifianakis], I love Ed [Helms] so much, I probably would.”
When asked if a fourth “Hangover” film could happen, Cooper replied, “I don’t think Todd’s ever going to do that.”
Cooper starred in 2009’s “The Hangover” alongside Zack Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha and Ken Jeong. The original raunchy comedy film spawned two sequels: 2011’s “The Hangover Part II” and 2013’s “The Hangover Part III.”
Cooper noted that although he hasn’t done traditionally comedic roles as of late, he is “having fun” on his latest projects and doesn’t find these heavier films “exhausting” as others might.
“There’s nothing more fun that I’ve experienced than ‘Maestro’ and ‘A Star is Born,’” he said. “I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t.”
Bradley Cooper may be doing serious roles at this point in his career, but he’s not opposed to returning to his earlier, more comedic ones.
The multihyphenate stopped by The New YorkerRadio Hourto discuss his film, Maestro. During the podcast appearance, he also opened up about whether or not he would do more “fun” movies again one day.
“I would probably do Hangover IV in an instant,” the filmmaker said. “Just because I love Todd [Phillips], I love Zach [Galifianakis], I love Ed [Helms] so much, I probably would.” When pressed about whether or not that’s coming, Cooper admitted, “I don’t think Todd is ever going to do that.”
While he hasn’t done traditionally funny roles lately, he explained that he is having the most fun of his career right now and doesn’t find the heavier movies he’s been working on recently “exhausting” as many people might.
“There’s nothing more fun that I’ve experienced than Maestro and A Star is Born,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t.”
Cooper directed, co-wrote and stars in Maestro, opposite Carey Mulligan. He portrays legendary composer Leonard Bernstein, while Mulligan takes on the role of his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.
Instead of creating a traditional biopic, the Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese-produced film details Leonard and Felicia’s “very complicated” 30-year relationship, from when they met at a party in 1946, through two engagements and three children.
“Their connection was profound,” Mulligan previously told Vogue. “They lit each other up. You can hear it: There are tapes of them trading anecdotes, and it’s like they’re dancing.”
The marriage, to some, may have seemed unorthodox, as she accepted his affairs with men. But it was only to a certain point.
“For her, the betrayal wasn’t sex,” the Oscar-winning actress said of her character. “It was when she felt someone else intruding into the space she held for him, being the person who understood him, who was necessary.”
Maestrois in theaters now, before hitting Netflix Dec. 20.
Hi I’m Bradley Cooper. I co-wrote and directed ‘Maestro.’ It was very important to me, at the onset of this scene, that she be in a position of power. So, her on the windowsill, the light haloing her behind, waiting for whoever was gonna come in to be scolded. And then he’s sort of like a dog who knows that he’s done something bad, comes in, stays right on that side of the frame, almost out of the scene, and then slowly comes over, and then parks himself back in that position, almost trying to get out of the frame. And then I wanted sort of for you to be hearing this celebratory Thanksgiving Day parade going on, and seeing these floats go by, to sort of play into the juxtaposition between this sort of horrific scene happening and this joyous occasion outside, and for it also to be kind of comedic, in a way, and ridiculous. This was a scene that I wrote many years ago, when I first started to work on this project, and it maintained its integrity all the way ‘till we started shooting five and a half years later. “You’re letting your sadness get the better —” “Oh, stop it!” “Let me at least finish!” “This has nothing to do with me!” “Let me finish what I’m going to say!” “No! No!” “I think you’re letting your sadness get the better of you.” “This has nothing to do with me! It’s about you, so you should love it!” So this is the point of the film that everything has come to a boiling point, specifically for Felicia. She’s entered into a marriage eyes wide open in terms of how she perceived it would be, and how her husband, Leonard Bernstein, would behave, and now it’s gotten to a point where it’s encroached so much into her emotional state that she can’t take it anymore. “Hate in your heart! Hate in your heart, and anger for so many things, it’s hard to count. That’s what drives you. Deep, deep anger drives you. You aren’t up on that podium allowing us all to experience the music the way it was intended. You are throwing it in our faces.” “How dare you?” My fear was that we wouldn’t be able to maintain this frame for the entire scene. But because Carey Mulligan is such an assassin actor, it was effortless. We did this three times. This was the third take. And once we got it, that was it. Her main thrust is that he’s got hate in his heart, and he’s not up there on the podium doing anything other than teaching the audience that they’re not as good as him. It was very important to me that the audience, as they watched the film progress after this scene, know that that’s not really what she felt, because there’s no way that Felicia would have fallen in love with a man who has hate in his heart. But when we are trying to hurt somebody that we love, we’ll try to hit them where we think we can hurt them, and on the podium is where he feels, I think, the most free, and the most able to fulfill his potential. To me, when you’re not cutting, it, as a viewer, it should feel unsafe. You don’t know where it’s going. And if you start cutting, it just changes everything. “— zero opportunity to live, or even breathe as our true selves. Your truth makes you brave and strong, and saps the rest of us of any kind of bravery or strength!” But what I loved about it was just, and Matty Libatique is so incredible, the cinematographer, able to execute what I wanted, which was to have her feel almost regal. But she was, Felicia, in that moment. “If you’re not careful, you’re going to die a lonely, old queen.” Mommy, daddy! [CHEERING] Daddy! Snoopy’s here! Hurry up! [KNOCKING ON DOOR] You’re missing Snoopy! What are you guys doing in there? I love when they’re shadowed here by his ego. Outside the window, this Snoopy sort of represents where he is in his life. And then for her to leave him in the middle at the end of the scene, and he’s just there, you know, in the center of the ring, as Snoopy goes by. That was always what I had envisioned. [CHEERING]
Fellow Travelers marks Bomer’s first executive producer credit, and only his second producing credit to date; his first came for the latter years of White Collar, which ended nearly a decade ago. What binds those two roles, arguably his most notable onscreen thus far, is the embodiment of deception. In White Collar, a snappy procedural, Bomer played a con artist who lends his unparalleled skills in illegal maneuvering to the FBI. You believe he’s a career criminal because Bomer can sell it with a smirk.
When the show ended, Bomer was newly out in the industry and realizing his place in it was changing. If a certain kind of leading-man lane had closed to him, his collaborations with the likes of Steven Soderbergh (Magic Mike) and Ryan Murphy (The Boys in the Band) opened up a more fruitful path. “I can’t look back in anger,” he says. A project like Fellow Travelers weighs on him because of what it took even for him to nab to such a juicy part. “I want more queer actors to have opportunities to play roles like this and to be trusted with roles like this,” he says. “I’d be lying to you if I said that wasn’t in the back of my mind.”
Aside from some voice work, a cameo in the latest Magic Mike movie, and most significantly the acclaimed Murphy-produced adaptation of The Boys in the Band,Maestro is Bomer’s only movie since 2018. His first days in production took place at the music venue of Tanglewood, where the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, portrayed in the film by Cooper, performed and taught throughout his life. (Bomer plays the clarinetist David Oppenheim, one of Bernstein’s lovers.) In the Massachusetts woods, he was rehearsing for Cooper, also the director, while producer Steven Spielberg hung around, spontaneously filming Bomer on his own personal camera. “I thought, Oh, my God, it’s like two of my heroes in the same room. How do I do this?’” Bomer recalls. “With Bradley, I felt like I was working with Cassavetes and Orson Welles at the same time.”
Now a significant Oscar contender for Netflix, Maestro represents another breakthrough for Bomer. He filmed it just before Fellow Travelers and found watching Cooper inhabit Bernstein across different eras impact the way he approached the Showtime limited series: “Watching him jump through all the time periods, I thought, Oh, wow. Okay. You can do this.” He had to go back and forth between Fellow Travelers and reshoots of Maestro in the fall. His head was spinning.
Not that you’d ever witness the chaos on camera. In Maestro, too, Bomer is cool, collected, and commanding. He sees both Oppenheim and Travelers’ Hawk as people who “did what they had to do.” He sees himself that way, in fact. “When I was first breaking into the business, I did what I had to do to try to get roles,” he says. “And then at a certain point, I hit the fuck-it button.” Maybe so—that unburdening is evident in his rich recent work. But it’s no secret that Bomer is a master of appearances. He’s played suave liars for most of his career; he’s learned exactly what to give to the camera and when.
In an upcoming episode of Fellow Travelers, Hawk and his new bride, played by Allison Williams, prepare to have sex. Filming of the scene, as always, began with the director calling action. In character, Bomer then reached up and gently pushed Williams’s hair back. The improvised move seemed like a simple, tender, loving gesture—but its function was sneakily practical. The episode’s director, Uta Briesewitz, whispered to Nyswaner, who was beside her at the monitor, “He just cleared her profile.” Bomer knew Williams’s hair was blocking her face. He didn’t ignore it or restart to get through the take; he instead managed to fix the shot’s composition while simultaneously enhancing its mood—and all as if he weren’t doing a thing. “That’s who Matt is,” Nyswaner says. “He’s so aware.”
Listen to Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast now.
This past Thursday, Nina Bernstein Simmons, Alexander Bernstein and Jamie Bernstein gathered at their family’s Connecticut home to talk about “Maestro,” the movie that Bradley Cooper has made about their late parents. Much of the movie was filmed in this house, where the children share cherished memories of their father, the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, and their mother, actress Felicia Montealegre.
Rocca asked, “How much time do you all spend in the house now?”
“Every chance we get,” said Jamie. “Weekends and lots of summer-time. It’s heaven here.”
Cooper not only co-stars, he also co-wrote the movie and directed it. It’s his second film as a director, the first being the hit “A Star Is Born” with Lady Gaga. Still, he needed the consent of the three living Bernsteins to make the movie.
He met with first-born Jamie in a New York restaurant. He recalled: “I eat with my hands all the time, and I’m eating the spinach with my hands. And I recognize it, and then I either apologize or something, and you said, ‘That’s what my dad used to do.’ And I remember in that moment I thought: Oh, this might happen.”
“Corn on the cob was his favorite thing!” Jamie said.
Bradley Cooper, star and director of “Maestro,” with the three children of Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre: Nina Bernstein Simmons, Alexander Bernstein and Jamie Bernstein.
CBS News
Cooper immersed himself in the life of Leonard Bernstein, who from the age of 25 was a bold-faced name in American culture: The longtime conductor of the New York Philharmonic – the man who made classical music approachable through his televised “Young People’s Concerts” on CBS – and the composer of symphonies and landmark musicals, including “West Side Story” and “Candide.”
Becoming Bernstein meant looking like him at various stages, and the transformation is startling. “It took four years, four years of tests,” said Cooper.
You may have read that Cooper’s makeup includes a prosthetic nose that the non-Jewish actor used to portray the Jewish Bernstein. The Bernsteins themselves are more than fine with that. “I just want to point out that Bradley has a very substantial nose,” said Jamie. “And I don’t think anybody noticed that before the fracas happened. It’s the absolute non-issue of all time.”
Bradley Cooper in “Maestro.”
Netflix
But “Maestro” is not a womb-to-tomb biopic. Instead, Cooper decided to explore the relationship between Bernstein and his lesser-known wife, portrayed by Carey Mulligan. “Our mom was the most elegant, delicious person,” said Nina Bernstein Simmons.
Theirs was a love story, but complicated by the fact that Bernstein also had affairs with men.
“She didn’t go into the marriage blindly?” asked Rocca.
“Not at all,” Nina replied.
Jamie added, “She knew exactly what the deal was.”
Alexander Bernstein said, “They obviously loved each other to death. They never fought in front of us. We never saw any darkness. We felt a lot. They kept everything very well tidied, and pretty well-hidden.”
Felicia Montealegre and Leonard Bernstein in Berlin, 1959.
Berlin-Bild via Getty Images
But as a young woman, Jamie had questions about the rumors about her dad, as depicted in the film. Her father didn’t tell her the truth.
In her 2018 memoir, “Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein,” Jamie reported that shortly after their wedding, her mother wrote to her father: “I’m willing to accept you as you are without being a martyr and sacrificing myself on the L.B. altar.” But according to Jamie, she had done exactly that.
“Yeah, that’s how I feel,” she said. “I feel like it cost her everything to stick with it. It was really tough for her, and I think it contributed to her early death, in a way.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Alexander. “I think, you know, probably she regretted a lot of things looking back.”
Felicia Montealegre died of lung cancer in 1978 at the age of 56. “She had a wonderful, rich life, and mostly wonderful marriage, and a lot of love,” Alexander said.
Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in “Maestro.”
As much as “Maestro” is a love story about a marriage, it is also a story about Leonard Bernstein’s love of music. Cooper was actually conducting the musicians during filming of Mahler’s Second Symphony: “It took me six-and-a-half years of working on it for six minutes and 25 seconds of music,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life, and I may never again.”
Bernstein died from a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 72. He and Bradley Cooper never met.
Nina asked Cooper if he missed Bernstein. “Oh yeah, man,” he replied. “It’s hard to talk about. I don’t know, we shared something very special, the four of us. It’s hard to even articulate. But he was with us, he was with me certainly, throughout the entire time. His energy has somehow found its way to me that I really do feel like I know him.”
To watch a trailer for “Maestro” click on the video player below:
“American Valor: A Salute to Our Heroes,” the American Veterans Center’s annual Veterans Day broadcast special, will return to television this year on Nov. 11 to pay tribute to service men and women from World War II to present day. Emmy-nominated actor and U.S. Marine Corps vet Rob Riggle is back as host. He is joined by other celebrities who will share stories of service, including Bradley Cooper, Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Chris Evans, Jake Gyllenhaal, Goldie Hawn, Allison Janney, Chris Pine and Sylvester Stallone.
David Boreanaz, Yvette Nicole Brown, Glen Powell, Maggie Sajak, Michael Cudlitz, James Madio and Ross McCall, among others, will also join the broadcast as presenters. The United States Air Force Band’s “Airmen of Note” will perform this year, featuring music from the World War II era.
The program will introduce viewers to those who made sacrifices to become American heroes, featuring dozens of veterans from the last 80 years and an audience of students from the service academies and ROTC programs around the country.
“We are honored to bring these stories to Americans across the country,” Tim Holbert, executive director of the American Veterans Center and producer of “American Valor,” said in a statement. “This is a gathering from our shared history, the likes of which we will never see again, and a reminder of what brings us all together as Americans.”
Presented by Northrop Grumman and Veterans United Home Loans, “American Valor: A Salute to Our Heroes” will be nationally syndicated on stations including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW affiliates. It will also be broadcast to U.S. troops currently serving around the world and on Navy ships at sea on the American Forces Network.
Superstar pop producer and Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff, in addition to being responsible for co-writing and producing some of the greatest pop albums of the past decade (that’s Melodrama, Reputation, and Norman Fucking Rockwell, for anyone wondering), also happens to have a deep knowledge of obscure sneakers, at least if his fit on the Tonight Show earlier this week is anything to go by. He wore a pair of high-top football Derby’s from Zeha Berlin, an excellent throwback shoe and a bona fide sneakerhead deep cut.
Victor Wembanyama in the Nike Air Force 1
Barry Gossage/Getty Images
For the second time in less than a week, rookie phenomenon Victor Wembanyama and his San Antonio Spurs faced off against Kevin Durant and Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns—and this time, in addition to securing yet another victory over the otherwise dominant Suns squad, Wemby dropped a career-high 38 points. But if you had been paying attention to his entrance, his forceful performance wouldn’t have come as a surprise: He signaled his intentions to kick ass and take names when he turned up in black Air Force Ones.
Bradley Cooper in the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 High
Bradley Cooper appears to have another winner on his hands.
The actor-director’s latest film, “Maestro”, made its debut at the Venice International Film Festival this weekend, and received a rousing reception at its festival premiere.
As Varietyreports, the Cooper-directed biopic — in which Cooper also portrays famed composer Leonard Bernstein — was met with a standing ovation that went on for a full seven minutes.
While neither Cooper nor co-star Carey Mulligan (who plays Bernstein’s wife, Felicia Montealegre) were in attendance due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Bernstein’s three children — Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Maria Felicia Bernstein — tearfully welcomed the applause, waving to the crowd.
As the end credits rolled, accompanied by one of their father’s rousing compositions, they could be seen cheering and dancing while motioning their arms as if conducting a symphony.
Leonard Bernstein’s children Jamie, Alex and Nina do their best impressions of their father’s conducting style during the standing ovation for #Maestro at Venice. pic.twitter.com/wuLJtK2mtb
In addition to Cooper and Mulligan, the cast of “Maestro” includes Matt Bomer as Bernstein’s lover, Maya Hawke as Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie, and Sarah Silverman as Bernstein’s sister, Shirley.
During a press conference ahead of the premiere, “Maestro” makeup designer Kazu Hiro responded to the backlash over the prosthetic nose he created for Bradley (who isn’t Jewish) to play the Jewish Bernstein, which some blasted as antisemitic.
“I wasn’t expecting that to happen,” Hiro said, as reported by Variety.
“I feel sorry that I hurt some people’s feelings,” he added. “My goal was and Bradley’s goal was to portray Lenny as authentic as possible. Lenny had a really iconic look that everybody knows — there’s so many pictures out there because he’s photogenic, too — such a great person and also inspired so many people. So we wanted to respect the look too, on the inside. So that’s why we did several different tests and went through lots of decisions and that was the outcome in the movie.”
Bernstein’s three children issued a joint statement addressing the backlash.
“It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of [Cooper’s] efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose,” the statement read. “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. Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch — a practice we observed all too often perpetrated on our own father. At all times during the making of this film, we could feel the profound respect and yes, the love that Bradley brought to his portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, our mother Felicia. We feel so fortunate to have had this experience with Bradley, and we can’t wait for the world to see his creation.”
Bradley Cooper is a certified romantic. There was intriguing indication of that sensibility in his directorial debut, 2018’s glorious remake of A Star Is Born, an old-fashioned swooner staged with elegant, modern technique. Further confirmation arrives with Cooper’s second directorial effort, Maestro, a loose biopic of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife, actress Felicia Montealegre. The film, which premiered here at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, is a swirling love poem, both rousing and bitterly sad. It’s also confused, as passion can often make us.
Cooper, who plays Bernstein under some controversial prosthetics, has opted for even more high style than he did in A Star Is Born. The first half or so of the film is in black and white, in a square aspect ratio, as Cooper quickly traces Bernstein’s rise to fame and then more deliberately captures scenes of Bernstein and Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) falling for one another amid a ghost-lit theater and the rolling hills of the Berkshires. They first meet at a smoky, song-filled house party and are instantly enamored of each other’s smarts and openness, their mutual willingness to feel and want in front of one another. These artists from comfortable backgrounds are not living any sort of pinched, mid-century stiffness, denied their ambitions. They are active creatives drawn to a shared flame. And thus, together, they burn—in a good way, for a while.
Cooper, who co-wrote the script with Josh Singer, zooms through the years, scenes tumbling into other scenes—children are born, professional trajectories reach ever more heights. Maestro only pauses its ceaseless motion for small moments meant to define a relationship’s dynamic, not to plot significant points on a known timeline. It is refreshing that Maestro is not a staid biopic structured in plodding fashion, delineating Bernstein’s life in its most pertinent beats. West Side Story is only mentioned twice, by my count; Candide no more than that. We occasionally see the great man at work at the podium, huge moments of sweaty physicality that Cooper attacks with gusto. But otherwise this is not a career movie, nor really a creation one. Which may be disappointing for those wanting to see important events in a vital American artist’s history dutifully reenacted; lovers of romantic melodrama, though, ought to be more satisfied.
The Bernstein of it all—his uniquely notable presence in, and effect on, the world—is conjured up mostly through music, that which he wrote or famously conducted. What wonders these selections are: the towering thrill of his Ely Cathedral performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony; the nimble pluck of Fancy Free, with its early evocations of West Side dance-battles; the sweep and lilt of A Quiet Place. Cooper relies heavily on these selections to convey meaning. And why shouldn’t he, when they are such testament to a prodigy’s output, his novel inventions and his singular ear for interpreting classics of old? The extended sequence in which Bernstein furiously conducts the Mahler symphony is especially striking, an artist in his older years finding his fire anew—nicely linked, in the movie’s narrative, with a rekindling of his marriage.
The union of Bernstein and Montealegre was peculiar or progressive, depending on whom you asked. Bernstein had many affairs with men, a fact from which the film—while still devoted to its mission of depicting a deep and abiding heterosexual marriage—does not shy away. Declarative statements are never made; labels are not assigned. But the matter of Bernstein’s sexuality, and his increasing indiscretion about it, is bandied about quite often as the film reaches its climax, by then unfolding in Matthew Libatique’s rich color photography. Cooper uses Bernstein’s consistent dalliances with men—and, in some cases, genuine romantic affairs—as the wedge threatening to drive Bernstein and Montealegre apart for good. We may never know for certain whether or not that was exactly the case in real life. But it is squarely presented as such in Maestro, an argument that plays as perhaps too easy and direct an analysis given all the abstraction and nuance afforded the couple in the rest of the film.
Though Maestro confronts queerness head on, it is curiously silent on Bernstein and (perhaps especially) Montealegre’s political activism. The famous Black Panther Party event Montealegre held at the family’s apartment in 1970, which led to the writer Tom Wolfe sneeringly coining the term “radical chic,” is not mentioned at all in the film. Nor are any of the couple’s other noble causes. One gets the queasy impression that Cooper wants to keep his film free of those particular complications, lest they too rigidly define and contextualize these two lovers so fiercely vying for our affection.
After facing criticism for wearing a prosthetic nose in Maestro, Bradley Cooper has found another ally. On Monday, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism and bigotry, defended the actor’s choice to don a prosthetic nose to play Jewish composer Leonard Bernstein in his upcoming biopic.
“Throughout history, Jews were often portrayed in antisemitic films and propaganda as evil caricatures with large, hooked noses,” said the ADL in a statement first made to TMZ. “This film, which is a biopic on the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, is not that.”
Cooper found himself in hot water last week after the release of the first trailer for his forthcoming film Maestro, which he directed, produced, co-wrote, and stars in. Maestro follows the life and times of Leonard Bernstein, the legendary Jewish conductor and composer most famous for West Side Story, and his tumultuous 25 year-marriage to Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan. After the trailer dropped, Cooper was accused of being antisemitic, with many calling Cooper’s decision to wear a prosthetic nose to play Bernstein an example of “Jewface”—something that continues Hollywood’s shameful tradition of stereotypical or inauthentic portrayals of Jewish people.
The ADL is not the first group to stand by Cooper and his prosthetic nose. Last week, Bernstein’s children—Jamie, Nina, and Alexander Bernstein—released a joint statement showing their support for Cooper, saying that they were “perfectly fine” with Cooper’s decision to don the prosthetic nose. “Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that,” read the statement. “We’re also certain that our dad would be fine with it as well. Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch—a practice we observed all too often perpetrated on our own father.”
Maestro is set to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival September 2. Its North American premiere will take place at New York Film Festival October 2.
The Oscar-nominated actor opened up about his journey towards sobriety in a recent episode of National Geographic’s “Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge.” When asked by the eponymous adventurer about his “wild years,” Cooper was rather candid.
“‘The Hangover’ was pretty career changing,” he told Grylls. “I was 36 when that happened so I was already in the game for 10 years just banging around, so I didn’t get lost in fame. In terms of alcohol and drugs, yeah, but nothing to do with fame, though.”
The 48-year-old was “very lucky” to have accepted sobriety at 29 before the overwhelming fame took hold. Cooper, who shares a six-year-old daughter with Irina Shayk, was nearly knocked off-course when his father died of cancer in 2011.
“I definitely had a nihilistic attitude towards life after, just like I thought ‘I’m going to die,’” Cooper told Grylls. “I don’t know, it wasn’t great for a little bit until I thought I have to embrace who I actually am and try to find a peace with that, and then it sort of evened out.”
Cooper previously admitted he almost quit acting while starring opposite Jennifer Garner in “Alias.” He told GQ in 2013 he begged showrunner J.J. Abrams to write him off before realizing substance abuse was going to “sabotage [his] whole life” if he didn’t get sober.
Cooper said his career opportunities after becoming sober have been “a real blessing.”
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images
He famously confronted those demons for the whole world to see after co-writing, directing and starring in “A Star is Born” (2018) to critically-acclaimed results. Grylls reminded him about that between snow-blanketed tasks in the canyons of the Wyoming Basin.
“That made it easier to be able to really enter in there,” he told Grylls. “And thank goodness I was at a place in my life where I was at ease with all of that, so I could really let myself go. I’ve been really lucky, Bear, with the roles I’ve had to play. I mean I really have.”
“It’s been a real blessing,” he continued. “I hope I get to keep doing it.”
Cooper’s seat at the table will surely stay open if his humility is any indication. The great outdoors could become a new refuge if it doesn’t, however, as he bravely ate a boiled bear tongue while encamped at dizzying heights and rappelled between cliffsides on his own.
Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline.
There may be another nose-related controversy at the Oscars this year. Netflix’s Maestro, starring Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein, has inspired the internet’s ire due to Cooper’s choice to wear a prosthetic nose in the biopic to portray the legendary musician. (Cooper also cowrote and directed the movie.) Bernstein’s estate has released a statement in support of Cooper, saying they are “perfectly fine” with Cooper’s use of a prosthetic.
The backlash began shortly after the first trailer for Maestro dropped on Tuesday. The clip finally revealed Cooper’s take on Leonard Bernstein, the composer, music educator, and conductor who composed West Side Story. Internet detractors called Cooper’s use of a prosthetic nose to portray Bernstein, who was Jewish, “antisemitic.” “Bradley Cooper should not be playing Leonard Bernstein,” reads one tweet. “He should not be wearing a prosthetic nose. This is Jew-face & is as serous & offensive as Black-face or the racializing of other minorities. Stop erasing Jews. Stop erasing Jew-hate. Jews do count.”
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By Wednesday, Bernstein’s three children—Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein, and Nina Bernstein—had released a joint statement standing behind Cooper. “Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made this film about our father,” began the statement. “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. It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts.”
The statement went on to directly address Cooper’s use of a prosthetic. “It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose,” the statement continues. “Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would be fine with it as well. Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch—a practice we observed all too often perpetrated on our own father.”
Cooper directs and stars in Maestro opposite Carey Mulligan, who portrays his wife, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein. The film has already scored Oscar buzz for both Cooper and Mulligan, who portray the couple over the course of their tumultuous 25-year marriage. It was recently announced that the film will premiere at New York Film Festival at David Geffen Hall alongside a performance from Bernstein’s beloved New York Philharmonic on October 2.
“Maestro is a bravura achievement for its director and star, a work of conviction and imagination that does justice to the brilliance and complexity of its subject,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director of the New York Film Festival. “We are honored to have Bradley Cooper’s enthralling film as a gala presentation at this year’s festival, and doubly so to be showing it in a venue that is synonymous with Leonard Bernstein.”
The Bernsteins ended their statement by noting that Cooper had a “profound respect” for both of their parents. “We feel fortunate to have had this experience with Bradley, and we can’t wait for the world to see his creation.”
