IF YOU’VE EVER had a song from West Side Story stuck in your head, or heard the infectious melodies of Stanley Donen’s sailors-on-leave musical On The Town, you probably have Leonard Bernstein to thank. The ingenious composer, pianist and orchestra-conductor worked prolifically during the mid-20th century, collaborating with the writers and lyricists of both of those classic Hollywood films.
It’s no wonder, then, that Bradley Cooper, director-star of the most recent adaptation of A Star Is Born, is to make Bernstein the focus of his second filmmaking effort. Cooper clearly has an affinity for musical subject matter and a strong singing voice to boot, so his next project, currently being shot in New York, seems like a logical choice.
Bernstein’s contributions to cinema were staggering, but only account for a fraction of his musical legacy. Awarded nearly every major plaudit in his lifetime from 1918 to 1990, his career was burnished by historical import at every turn. He was asked to memorialise John F. Kennedy in an address at Madison Square Garden after his assassination, and concluded his career playing Beethoven in a live televised concert to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Although the material for a Bernstein film was originally developed by Steven Spielberg, Cooper convinced him to hand it over and serve as executive producer instead, such was Cooper’s passion for the project (Martin Scorsese and Todd Phillips also hold executive producer credits). As the actor-director once reflected, “I wanted to be a conductor since I was a kid.”