The film “Maestro,” starring Bradley Cooper as legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, begins streaming on Netflix on Wednesday.
It goes beyond chronicling Bernstein’s career to explore the tensions within his marriage to actor Felicia Montealegre — played by Carey Mulligan — which were exacerbated by his affairs with men.
Though the couple lived a public, glamorous life, raising three children in New York City, behind closed doors they had frank conversations about Bernstein’s sexuality and Montealegre’s frustrations with her career taking a backseat to her husband’s.
Bernstein’s three children have been supportive of the film and allowed the family’s Connecticut home to be used for filming.
One of those children, author Jamie Bernstein, spoke to Alison Stewart on a recent episode of “All of It” to discuss what it was like growing up in a famous family, dad jokes, and seeing her childhood played out on the big screen.
You can listen to their whole conversation here; an edited version is below.
Alison Stewart: Before the film, had you been approached about a biopic about your family?
Bernstein: This whole project began a long time ago, 15 years ago.
The producer, Fred Berner, and his partner, Amy Durning, came to the Lenny Bernstein office and pitched this biopic idea to us, and we said, “Okay, give it a try. See if you can put it all together.”
The years went by and various iterations went by. It wasn’t until about six years ago that Bradley Cooper came on board.
When he started taking his deep dive into Leonard Bernstein and everything about him, he decided to change the flavor of the project and make it this portrait of a marriage rather than a conventional biopic. He really changed the whole idea of the film.
Before you could say yes with your whole heart, what did you need to know from the filmmakers?
Well, basically, we were persuaded by Bradley Cooper that he was the man for the job. He had just finished making “A Star Is Born,” and he…
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