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Bernstein family defends Bradley Cooper from 'Jewface' storm

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Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES, United States - The family of Leonard Bernstein has defended Bradley Cooper&#x27;s controversial decision to wear a large prosthetic nose while playing the Jewish composer in a new film.Oscar nominee Cooper -- who wrote, directed and stars in &quot;Maestro&quot; -- has received criticism since a trailer for the upcoming Netflix film was released online this week.Critics said the decision to wear a fake nose plays up to Jewish stereotypes, and have dubbed it &quot;Jewface,&quot; in reference to the historic &quot;Blackface&quot; practice of non-Black performers darkening their faces for roles.Others have questioned whether non-Jewish actors, like Cooper, should even play Jewish roles.But the late Bernstein&#x27;s three children said they were &quot;perfectly fine with&quot; with Cooper&#x27;s decision &quot;to use makeup to amplify his resemblance&quot; to their father.&quot;It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose,&quot; wrote Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein in a statement on social media.&quot;We&#x27;re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well,&quot; they added.Bernstein, the son of Jewish-Ukrainian immigrants, died in 1990 but remains one of the best-known composers and conductors of all time.He served as music director of the New York Philharmonic, and wrote the Broadway musical &quot;West Side Story.&quot;Cooper, a nine-time Oscar nominee, is best known for &quot;A Star Is Born&quot; and &quot;The Hangover&quot; films.&quot;Maestro&quot; is a biographical romance about Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre, who is played by Carey Mulligan.Questions about whether actors, particularly white performers, should play real-life figures from ethnic minorities have long roiled Hollywood.In recent years, the casting of non-Jewish actors to play Jewish roles has come to the fore.For instance, Helen Mirren drew controversy for portraying former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in this year&#x27;s &quot;Golda.&quot;But the Bernstein family praised Cooper for &quot;the depth of his commitment&quot; to the project.&quot;It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts,&quot; they wrote.&quot;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.&quot;&quot;Maestro&quot; is due to premiere at next month&#x27;s Venice Film Festival.Cooper has already said he will not attend the premiere because of the ongoing Hollywood strike, which prevents actors from promoting their movies.<div>amz/hg/md</div><div>© Agence France-Presse</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zU6GbM5c9aE?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The family of Leonard Bernstein has defended Bradley Cooper's controversial decision to wear a large prosthetic nose while playing the Jewish composer in a new film.