Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic is heading to Netflix, potentially giving the streaming giant their next Oscar contender. In 2018, Cooper made his directorial debut with A Star is Born, which earned widespread critical praise (including a Best Picture nomination) and $434.8 million at the worldwide box office. Cooper demonstrated a deft hand behind the camera, suggesting that he has a bright future as a helmsman. That’s certainly a path Cooper appears interested in pursuing, seeing that he was attached to direct the Bernstein film months before A Star is Born became a massive phenomenon.
As for Netflix, they’ve spent the past couple of years leaving their mark on Hollywood’s awards season. Following the success of Roma, Netflix is back at it with two Best Picture contenders at the 2020 Oscars: The Irishman and Marriage Story. It’s evident Netflix wants to be a consistent player in the awards race, meaning they’re always on the lookout for another big prestige project they can get behind. They appear to have found a key one by joining forces with Cooper.
Deadline reports Cooper’s Bernstein biopic is moving from Paramount to Netflix. Cooper is onboard as director, star, and co-writer, and he’s also producing the film alongside Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Todd Phillips. The Bernstein biopic is currently scheduled to begin production in 2021, after Cooper stars in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. Once the project is complete, Netflix will give it a theatrical release so it can qualify for Oscars.
With his recent Best Picture nomination for Joker (which he produced), Cooper is now up to eight Oscar nods for his career, but doesn’t have any wins yet. Considering all the acclaim he’s earned over the last several years (his pivot to prestige fare began with 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook), it feels like it’s only a matter of time before Cooper finally gets his elusive first Oscar. Similar to A Star is Born, the Bernstein biopic will present Cooper with multiple opportunities at awards, since he’s once again wearing many hats. On-paper, the Bernstein film sounds like a contender, though it’s obviously much too early to say that for sure. But given Cooper’s (admittedly short) track record as director, it’s easy to see why Netflix is confident in the project and are already positioning it for a major Oscars push.
In the meantime, it’ll be interesting to see how Netflix fares at this year’s Academy Awards. Unfortunately, neither of their Best Picture nominees seem likely to win, though Laura Dern is the favorite in Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Marriage Story. Within the industry, there’s been pushback against Netflix (primarily because of their distribution model), which may have some impact on their awards prospects. But with a dream team consisting of Cooper, Spielberg, and Scorsese, voters may find the Bernstein biopic too good to resist - considering it lands all of the right notes, of course.
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Source: Deadline
