Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
On Wednesday, the family of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein spoke out in Bradley Cooper’s defense after criticism of the actor’s decision to wear a prosthetic nose in the biopic Maestro spread across the internet.
“Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father,” the statement, signed by Bernstein’s children Jamie, Alexander, and Nina, reads. “It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a big, nice nose. 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.”
Their statement continued: “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.”