By Gabe Friedman

( JTA ) — As Netflix released the first stills from the set of “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s upcoming biopic film about Leonard Bernstein, there was one thing most fans could agree about.

Cooper looked utterly unrecognizable, especially in one image as an elderly version of the iconic Jewish conductor. But as legions of angry social media users pointed out on Monday, June 6, part of Cooper’s transformation involved a prosthetic nose, something that many found to be antisemitic — especially since Cooper is not Jewish.

“There’s no reason to believe that the decision to wear a fake nose is a deliberately antisemitic act,” wrote James Hirsh, a co-host of the Menschwarmers podcast about Jewish athletes, in the Canadian Jewish News . “Cooper is presumably interested in exploring the life of a great composer whom he admires. A number of Jews are involved in the production. And the prosthesis arguably helps with the resemblance.

But this is Cooper’s third time portraying a historical figure on screen,” Hirsh added. “No prosthetics were used to play American Sniper’s Chris Kyle or Licorice Pizza’s Jon Peters. He didn’t use them to play the Elephant Man on Broadway.”

Hirsh was far from alone in calling out the prosthetic. Here are a few of the the many negative comments that hit social media:

“This…feels antisemitic. Y’all couldn’t find a single actor with those features? I’m not picky, he could be greek italian, Turkish, whatever. But like…Bradley Cooper in prosthetic Mediterranean features?”

“Don’t give non-Jewish actors a fake nose to play Jews. This stereotype leans into Nazi race science on what Jews look like, centuries of hooked nose imagery, and propaganda made to dehumanize Jewish people!”

“jews run hollywood” and yet i have to see leonard bernstein played by bradley cooper
in an obscene gigantic nose prosthetic. cool.”

Even though actors frequently adapt their bodies while playing historical figures, conversations about how many non-Jews play Jewish characters in Hollywood — and on what scale that should be allowed — have circulated for years.

But the “Jewface” debate received a boost last year, especially after non-Jewish actress Kathryn Hahn was cast as the outspokenly Jewish comedy pioneer Joan Rivers ( in a series that was eventually dropped ). Comedian Sarah Silverman made herself into the most prominent voice on Jewish casting issues after angrily opposing the planned
miniseries, saying on an episode of her podcast, “Right now, representation f***ing matters.”

“There’s this long tradition of non-Jews playing Jews, and not just playing people who happen to be Jewish, but people whose Jewishness is their whole being,” Silverman stated on the podcast. “One could argue, for instance, that a gentile playing Joan Rivers correctly would be doing what is actually called ‘Jewface.’”

In an ironic twist, Deadline recently reported that Silverman is joining the cast of “Maestro,” which is not only starring Cooper, but directed and co-written by the non-Jewish star. Steven Spielberg is a producer.

Silverman has not yet shared her “Maestro” news in any of her social media channels. The Bernstein biopic discourse has been particularly charged since 2018, when Cooper and Steven Spielberg — who was first slated to direct “Maestro,” before it became Cooper’s directorial follow-up to his 2016 remake of “A Star Is Born” — beat out the actor-director team of Jake Gyllenhaal and Cary Fukunaga in securing the music rights from Bernstein’s estate.

In talking about the Bernstein sweepstakes in an interview last year , Gyllenhaal — who like Spielberg is Jewish — mentioned Bernstein’s Jewishness in admitting defeat. “Sticking your neck out, hoping to get to tell the stories you love and that have been in your heart for a very long time is something to be proud of. And that story, that idea of playing one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America and his struggle with his identity was in my heart for 20 some odd years, but sometimes those things don’t work out,” he told Deadline.

Some fans resurfaced the possibility of a Bernstein played by Gyllenhaal in their swipes at the on-set images of Cooper.

“jewish actor jake gyllenhaal losing the leonard bernstein biopic to bradley cooper will never not make me mad,” tweeted one irate fan.

Production on “Maestro,” which co-stars Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre, started this month. The film will likely be released in 2023.

PHOTO: Bernstein
CAP: Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein on the set of “Maestro.” (Netflix)