Brad Pitt is saying the Academy hasn’t given Bradley Cooper his cinematic due, and that “Maestro” deserved Oscars.
In a recent appearance on the New Heights podcast, Pitt couldn’t help but heap praise on Cooper’s second directorial outing, “Maestro,”during a with Jason and Travis Kelce.
Pitt lauded Cooper’s performance and direction in the Leonard Bernstein biopic, calling “Maestro” “one of the best movies of the decade,” Pitt noted it was long past time for Cooper to bring home an Oscar. “Listen, he’s been nominated the 19,000th time. You know, if he doesn’t get it, it’s OK.” Pitt quipped, recalling a joke he made while presenting Cooper with an honor earlier this year. “I told the crowd, ‘He’s used to it. He’s a Philadelphia Eagles fan,”
Though the line drew laughs, the admiration was real. “Maestro” earned seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan. And while Cooper left empty-handed once again, Pitt made it clear: “the work speaks for itself.”
“Maestro,” although well-reviewed, had a lot pf detractors during awards season, with many referring to it as a vanity statement, and pointing out how desperate Cooper wanted to win an Oscar.
Putting aside all that, my core issue with “Maestro” is that it never stopped feeling like Bradley Cooper performing Leonard Bernstein, rather than embodying him. The effort was visible in every frame, so much so that it becomes a distraction.
So what is “Maestro,” really? For the most part, it played like an exercise in high-style—more of a pristine museum piece than a living, breathing portrait. There were flashes of technical brilliance: a meticulously orchestrated long take of Bernstein conducting, and a cleverly staged “On the Town” homage that flirts with dream logic. But beyond those flourishes, it felt curiously hollow.
Cooper’s next project, “Is This Thing On?,” a meta-Hollywood comedy that will see him return behind—and in front of—the camera, is rumored for release this year. It’ll be his third film as a director after “A Star is Born,” and “Maestro.”