Maestro Trailer Plays All the Familiar Notes

Movies

In a sure sign that Oscar-bait season is upon us, Netflix has released a trailer for Maestro, the upcoming biopic from second-time director Bradley Cooper. Cooper stars as Leonard Bernstein, the legendary American composer, with the film focusing on his undoubtedly troubled marriage to Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan. Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, and Michael Urie also star. Produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg (the latter of whom was originally going to direct the movie until he saw A Star is Born and handed the reins to Cooper), Maestro will have a limited theatrical release beginning on November 22, 2023, before arriving on Netflix on December 20, 2023. You can see the trailer below:

The thing that struck me most about the Maestro trailer was the makeup; Bradley Cooper looks like an old man in a few of those clips, and the makeup is invisible. That’s impressive, and it makes me want to see the movie in itself. As for the rest, well… this is one of those “I guess I’ll see it” films. It doesn’t look bad at all, but it does look like about a million other biopics we’ve all seen, and I’m getting a little tired of them. I don’t know much about Leonard Bernstein, so depending on how accurate the movie is, I guess it could be a learning experience. But outside of that makeup job, nothing about the trailer grabs me. A woman marries a famous person and finds living with him difficult for various – mostly sexual – reasons… again. It does strike me a bit that Carey Mulligan has top billing; she isn’t more famous than Bradley Cooper, so this seems like a deliberate choice. Does that mean she’s actually the lead (despite not being the Maestro), or is this Bradley Cooper’s way of apologizing for making more money than Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle? Whatever the case, I’m sure a slew of Oscar nominations are incoming.