Bradley Cooper's follow-up to 2018's 'A Star Is Born' will track some familiar territory, but there's one major difference - it'll be a Netflix movie.
Deadline reports that Cooper's long-awaited biopic on Leonard Bernstein and his tumultuous marriage to actress Felicia Montealegre is now being backed by the streaming giant, and what's more, three major names will be producing it alongside him. Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and 'Joker' director Todd Phillips have all been announced as producers on the biopic, all for different reasons.
Spielberg, for example, just recently finished work on a remake of 'West Side Story', arguably Bernstein's most recognisable work as a composer. Martin Scorsese, meanwhile, had intended to direct the biopic before he dropped it and went after 'The Irishman' instead, while Bradley Cooper and Todd Phillips have a production banner together.
As mentioned, Bernstein had a colourful life and marriage and is ripe for making a big Oscar-friendly biopic. For one, Bernstein was accused (and eventually cleared) of being a Communist, made his debut as a conductor with the New York Philharmonic when he was 25 after the original conductor took ill, and had regular affairs with men while married. Per Deadline's sources, it was the charged relationship between Bernstein and Montealegre that drew him to the movie.
Cooper is currently set to direct, co-write with Josh Singer, produce and star as Leonard Bernstein. However, no other castings have been announced as yet and the likelihood is that the as-yet untitled biopic won't be around until 2022, most likely just in time for the Oscars that year.
