Bradley Cooper said the backlash over his prosthetic nose in “Maestro” didn’t catch him “off guard” and is standing by his decision to emulate famed conductor Leonard Bernstein’s face.
“The truth is…I’d done this whole process out of love, and it’s so clear to me where I come from,” Cooper told CBS’ Gayle King in an interview aired Tuesday.
“My nose is very similar to Lenny’s, actually. I thought, ‘Maybe we don’t need to do it,’ but it’s all about balance, and, you know, my lips are nothing like Lenny’s, and my chin.”
The “A Star Is Born” actor maintained that his appearance “didn’t look right [without the prosthetic].”
Cooper, 48, also explained that the younger version of Bernstein in the film used more minimal prosthetics, but as the character ages, the makeup artists had to reflect the changes.
“By the time he’s older, it’s the whole face [that had prosthetics], so we just had to do it,” said Cooper. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t believe he was a human being.”
When the teaser trailer for Cooper’s buzzy film first dropped in August, he reignited the “Jewface” debate as he, an Irish-Italian Catholic, used a prosthetic to give himself a large nose.
Jewish actress Tracy-Ann Oberman — known for appearances in “Doctor Who” — told Page Six after the release that Cooper had no need for the change.
“If Bradley Cooper is able to play the Elephant Man without any prosthetics, he should be able to play a Jewish man without any need for prosthetics — especially a ‘Jewish’ nose,” she shared, adding that the prosthetic is the “equivalent of Black-Face or Yellow-Face.”
However, Jewish “West Wing” alum Joshua Malina — who appeared on Broadway in the Tony-winning play “Leopoldstadt” — defended Cooper, telling Page Six, “I do not take issue with Bradley Cooper being made to look like a real person.”
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He added, “Jews do not, in fact, have bigger noses than other people do; Leonard Bernstein did. That’s the end of the story for me.”
Bernstein’s real-life children, Jamie Alexander and Nina Bernstein, also wrote a letter in support of the “Hangover” star’s prosthetic.
“We were touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment, his loving embrace of our father’s music, and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration,” the trio said in a statement on social media.
“It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations of misunderstandings of his efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that.”
Bernstein’s kids said their father, who died in 1990, “would have been fine with it as well.”