'An annoying distraction': Leonard Bernstein's daughter defends Bradley Cooper in Maestro nose row

Leonard Bernstein's daughter has described the controversy surrounding Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose in his portrayal of her father as an "annoying distraction".

The 48-year-old actor has come under fire for wearing a large prosthetic nose as he plays the legendary Jewish conductor in the biopic 'Maestro' but Bernstein's eldest daughter Jamie is frustrated by the backlash.

She told Vanity Fair magazine: "It's just such an annoying distraction. The people who were waiting to get mad about something were just waiting to pounce."

Bradley worked with Oscar-winning makeup artist Kazu Hiro to create the controversial nose and Jamie, along with her siblings Alexander and Nina, were amazed by the resemblance he had to their father.

She explained: "It just made us gasp at what they were able to achieve. He would send us photographs on his phone, and some of them were so spot on that we would think, 'Oh, come on now, he just sneaked in a picture of our dad.'"

Cooper both stars in and directs 'Maestro' and Jamie considers him the perfect actor to bring her father to life on the big screen ahead of the picture's premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday (02.09.23).

She said: "His energy was so similar to our dad's, and his way of being in the world and relating to people reminded us more and more of our dad, and we began to see how right he was for the role in ways that wouldn't even have occurred to us at first."

Bernstein's children had released a statement in support of the 'A Star Is Born' actor when the row first erupted earlier this month.

They said: "Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father.

"It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts.

"It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use make-up to amplify his resemblance, and we are perfectly fine with that.

"We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well."