Empire Australasia - 03.2020

WhyBradley Cooper’s

new film has drawn

the combined might

of Spielberg, Scorsese

and Netfl ix

LIKE A SHARP-suited Avengers, Bradley

Cooper’s portrait of composer/conductor

Leonard Bernstein has attracted a

superhero line-up of producing talent.

Alongside Cooper, who will also star,

the project will be shepherded by his

production-company partner Todd

Phillips, director of Joker, as well as

Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg,

all under the Netfl ix banner. It’s a rare

fi lmmaking roster that has a producing

team more famous than most above-the-

title stars but also throws up some some

spicy, gossip-y dynamics. It puts Netfl ix

in league with Spielberg, who has been

vocal about the damaging infl uence of

streaming on traditional movie-going

models, and sees Scorsese in collaboration

with Phillips after the director recently

admitted he has not seen Joker after at one

time considering producing it (“I’ve seen

clips”). Who wouldn’t want to be a fl y on

the wall at that fi rst production meeting?

The project has other links to its

movie-making megastars. Scorsese was

attached to direct Josh Singer’s script

(Cooper now has a co-writing credit)

before he started to paint houses with

The Irishman and Spielberg is in

No. / 10 Producers assemble!

D’Angelou

Osei Kissiedu

THE NINE-YEAR-OLD ACTOR

MAKES HIS DEBUT

APPEARANCE IN LONDON-

BASED COMING-OF-AGE

STORYROCKS

ON GETTING INTO ACTING

“I was always into acting and

roleplaying. I liked dressing up

as characters. Sometimes

I would pretend I was making

my own movies. And then Mum

told me that there was some

audition in London for a film.

The first time, I was kind of

nervous, because there were

lots of people sitting there

waiting to be auditioned. But

a few days later, Mum and Dad

told me I got into the film.”

ON WATCHINGROCKS

FOR THE FIRST TIME

“I watched the film for the first

time last year and I was excited.

I went with Mum and everyone

was there. It was nice to meet

everyone again because

I hadn’t seen them in a long

time. And then I watched the

whole film. I kind of enjoyed it!”

ON THE MOVIES HE’D LIKE TO

BE IN WHEN HE’S OLDER

“I would like to be in a movie

with action. Something with

cool effects and, like,

explosions. And maybe a bit of

sci-fi. My favourite genre is

adventure and superheroes.

Sometimes I like to watch

Harry Potter. I likeAnt-Man

andBlack Panther.

ON HIS PET FROG INROCKS

“I got to name him Tiny.

Because...he was tiny!”

CHRISTINA NEWLAND

ROCKSDOESN’T CURRENTLY HAVE

AN AUSTRALIAN RELEASE DATE

INTRODUCING...

Alamy, Getty Images

PREVIEW

post-production on West Side Story,

with music composed by Bernstein.

The heavy-duty production saw off

competition from a rival project to star

Jake Gyllenhaal and be directed by Cary

Fukunaga (No Time To Die) after Cooper

and co secured rights from the Leonard

Bernstein estate and co-operation

from the family.

Given Bernstein’s life was a rich

dramatic pageant, it is not surprising

a fi lm version is such a talent magnet. He

was a musical prodigy (he was conducting

the New York Philharmonic by the age

of 25) and a political activist, and his

marriage to actor Felicia Montealegre was

complex and turbulent — he was gay yet

the couple stayed together for nearly 30

years. The fi lm won’t shoot until early next

year — Cooper is currently working on

Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley

— so save your Oscar betting money for

February 2022. It’s a sure thing, right?

Above: Martin

Scorsese

and Steven

Spielberg are

both on board

with Bradley

Cooper’s (below)

forthcoming

biopic of

legendary

composer/

conductor

Leonard

Bernstein

(below left).