‘Maestro’ could get Bradley Cooper that elusive Best Director Oscar nomination

“A Star is Born” did very well at the 2019 Oscars, amassing eight nominations and one win for Best Original Song for “Shallow.” However, you could say the movie actually underperformed. At one point, we thought Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga might both win for their lead performances, while Cooper missed out on a Best Director bid.

Considering “A Star is Born” was one of the biggest films of the year with plenty of above-the-line nominations, it was surprising about that latter snub. The Best Director lineup that year was Alfonso Cuarón (“Roma”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”), Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”), Adam McKay (“Vice”), and Paweł Pawlikowski (“Cold War”). Cooper’s omission was a big story. He was a first-time director who delivered an acclaimed new version of a screen classic. He made the fourth edition of the film fresh, original, and very much his own. It was an ambitious move and Cooper pulled it off.

The directors branch of the academy could make it up to him this year with his new movie “Maestro,” which marks Cooper’s second as a director. This Netflix flick, which is due out on November 22, tells the true story of the complex marriage between composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). The movie has earned rave reviews, particularly for the lead performances from Cooper and Mulligan.

But the biggest takeaway is that this picture cements Cooper as a top-quality helmer. He fills the film with such flourish and flare, elevating it from a simple biopic to a movie for cinema lovers. Each time period is made and shot in the style of films from that era. It’s a clever move, and Cooper’s love of Bernstein shines through with every scene.

Another wise decision from Cooper is the fact that we actually see very little of Bernstein conducting throughout the film. We curiously cut away just before he gets to work. Then, right towards the end of the movie, we get an extended sequence of Cooper’s Bernstein conducting Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at Ely Cathedral in Cambridge, England. The scene is all the more powerful because we hadn’t seen Bernstein conducting until that moment. Critics have singled out Cooper’s work as a director, too.

Nicholas Barber (BBC) observed: “It takes courage to direct a film that was due to be made, at various times, by Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese, both of whom stayed on as producers. But Maestro confirms what was suggested by Cooper’s directorial debut, ‘A Star is Born.’ He has sky-high ambitions, and he has the technical virtuosity and big-hearted sincerity to fulfill those ambitions with flair.”

Phil de Semylen (Time Out) note: “Big names have had a crack at it, with Scorsese and Spielberg each once attached to this long-gestating biopic, but it’s finally found the perfect foil in Bradley Cooper. He throws himself into the twin duties of directing and playing the man himself on-screen with the kind of no-stone-unturned dedication that would leave you unsurprised to discover that he’s bashed out a couple of symphonies himself as prep.”

Owen Gleiberman (Variety) opined: “Cooper, in the second film he has directed (after ‘A Star Is Born’), places himself on a high wire and carries it off. In ‘Maestro,’ he works with a pointillistic intimacy that invests every moment with fascination and surprise.”

Currently, however, Cooper is outside of our five predicted nominees for Best Director: Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), and Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”). Cooper is on the precipice along with Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”), Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”), and Celine Song (“Past Lives”). So, we are predicting another snub for Cooper.

But it may not pan out that way, however, as Cooper could be on the rise. Glazer’s film, “The Zone of Interest,” could be a polarizing one — it certainly won’t be everyone’s favorite flavor. The same could be said for Gerwig’s “Barbie.” Cooper’s “Maestro,” is a biopic about an creative genius, which always do well in the Best Director category. There’s something about artists making films about other artists that always goes down well here.

Here are a few recent directors that have been nominated for Best Director for helming pictures about artists or artistry in some way: Todd Field (“Tár” in 2023), Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans” in 2023), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car” in 2022), Paul Thomas Anderson (“Licorice Pizza” in 2022), David Fincher (“Mank” in 2021), and Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in 2020). Of course, “A Star is Born” also falls into that genre, but “Maestro” is about one of the most revered composers in American history.

Plus, “Maestro” has proven that Cooper is a first-class director. Voters, in recent years, don’t always embrace actors-turned-directors — Ben Affleck was snubbed for “Argo” in 2013 despite his film going on to win Best Picture. But Cooper’s talent is now undeniable. He didn’t drop in quality a little, or go for something a little easier. He pursued another ambitious passion project and took a big swing with this Bernstein biopic. Voters will surely be impressed with that, and that could lead to Cooper landing his first Best Director nomination. Indeed, voters may feel like they need to make it up to Cooper after snubbing him last time. They clearly like him in general, too — Cooper has nine Oscar nominations.

Cooper has reaped three Best Actor bids: “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2013, “American Sniper” in 2015, and “A Star is Born” in 2019. He’s also picked up a Best Supporting Actor nomination (for “American Hustle” in 2014) and a Best Adapted Screenplay bid (for “A Star is Born”). Surprisingly, the category he has received the most nominations in is Best Picture — with four so far. His first came in 2015 for “American Sniper” and he was nominated in 2019 for “A Star is Born,” which he also wrote and directed. He contended in 2020 for “Joker” and in 2022 for “Nightmare Alley.” “Joker” is the only one of the four Best Picture bids in which he did not appear.

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