Maestro’s biggest problem? Bradley Cooper’s open hunger for an Oscar
On a recent episode of The Howard Stern Show, Stern asked nine-time Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper which he’d prefer — to win Best Director and Best Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards, or for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl. Without missing a beat, Cooper answered, “Eagles Super Bowl victory.”
Stern responded with what we were all thinking: “You’re lying.” Eagles fan though he may be, Cooper has had a long tango with the Academy Awards. Those nine nominations have been across multiple disciplines: four for acting, four for producing, and one for writing. In 2015, he pulled off the rare feat of having been nominated three consecutive years for his performances, and yet still not getting the gold. Withdrawal begets desperation. And desperation, it seems, led to his 2023 Netflix biopic Maestro, less a movie about famed composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, and more one about Bradley Cooper trying to finally win his Best Actor Oscar.
That bid goes far beyond the familiar awards-bait “playing a real-life figure while caked in prosthetics” situation. With Maestro, his sophomore directorial effort, Cooper confirms that he’s incapable of directing a film that isn’t ultimately a showcase for his acting ability.
There was evidence of this in his directorial debut, A Star Is Born, which begins as an electric meet-cute between Cooper’s dad-rock icon Jackson Maine and up-and-coming performer Ally (Lady Gaga), then sadly shifts into a glorified For Your Consideration reel for its leading man. There’s a clear gravitational pull to Gaga’s performance, but Cooper-as-director clearly couldn’t help but linger, entranced, on his own grumbly, slurring, leather-faced turn. Surely, he seemed to be thinking, this would be his awards moment?
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