Bradley Cooper recalls 'amazing' time when Steven Spielberg hired him to direct ‘Maestro’

Actor Bradley Cooper recently made several revelations about his life and career during his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The interactive session began after host Stephen Colbert asked about how much he loved A Star Is Born and the lead-up to Cooper's next directing project, Maestro. Steven Spielberg was thinking about directing the movie and wanted Cooper to play the famous composer.

"He happened to know that I had this obsession with conducting. Like in grad school, I did like an M.F.A. and you create a character and I created a conductor and wrote a monologue. So it was something always inside of me," Cooper told Colbert of his history and love of conducting and how Spielberg knew of it. Further, he said, “So he said 'there's this project called Maestro, I might direct."

Bradley Cooper opens up about the time when Steven Spielberg hired him for direction

Cooper and Lady Gaga acted opposite each other in A Star is Born and also performed their Academy-Award-winning track Shallow at the Oscars in 2019. The performance began with Cooper's solo and then Gaga took the stage and played the piano too. The two ended their duet by harmonizing and Cooper sat down with Gaga at the piano. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cooper revealed that the performance that started romance rumours was merely an 'act'. He clarified that they 'definitely were acting' and stated that the performance was an extension of the film. He explained that they recreated the scene from the film in which the two fall in love on stage as they perform before a thousand people in the audience. 

Bradley revealed that he showed the director a version of A Star Is Born to try and convince Spielberg to let him take on Maestro and apparently when Jackson Maine (Cooper's role in the film) and Ally (Lady Gaga) are gearing up to perform Shallow on the main stage, Spielberg got up and walked over to Cooper and said to him that he was directing Maestro. Recalling his reaction, Bradley told Colbert that , “I mean it was just amazing.’ Starring Cooper, Carey Mulligan, and Succession's Jeremy Strong, Maestro will be Cooper's first film after his brilliant directorial debut with A Star Is Born.

IMAGE: AP