Bradley Cooper has defended his decision to wear a prosthetic nose while portraying composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein in his film Maestro.
The actor received backlash when the Netflix film's trailer dropped in August, with several Jewish entertainment industry figures decrying the added appendage as "Jewface" and antisemitic.
Addressing the controversy, Cooper said on CBS Mornings on Tuesday, "I thought, 'Maybe we don't need to do it.' But it's all about balance, and, you know, my lips are nothing like Lenny's, and my chin. And so we had that, and it just didn't look right (without the prosthetic)."
Cooper, who also directed the upcoming biopic, added, "The truth is... I'd done this whole process out of love, and it's so clear to me where I come from."
The A Star Is Born filmmaker, 48, went on to explain that the make-up was also necessary to depict Bernstein ageing throughout the film.
"By the time he's older, it's the whole face (that had prosthetics), so we just had to do it," he noted. "Otherwise, I wouldn't believe he was a human being."
Despite criticism from Jewish figures including Doctor Who actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, Bernstein's children publicly defended Cooper's use of the prosthetic.
Maestro received a seven-minute standing ovation after receiving its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September.
The film, also starring Carey Mulligan, will have a limited theatrical release on 22 November before streaming on Netflix on 20 December.
The actor received backlash when the Netflix film's trailer dropped in August, with several Jewish entertainment industry figures decrying the added appendage as "Jewface" and antisemitic.
Addressing the controversy, Cooper said on CBS Mornings on Tuesday, "I thought, 'Maybe we don't need to do it.' But it's all about balance, and, you know, my lips are nothing like Lenny's, and my chin. And so we had that, and it just didn't look right (without the prosthetic)."
Cooper, who also directed the upcoming biopic, added, "The truth is... I'd done this whole process out of love, and it's so clear to me where I come from."
The A Star Is Born filmmaker, 48, went on to explain that the make-up was also necessary to depict Bernstein ageing throughout the film.
"By the time he's older, it's the whole face (that had prosthetics), so we just had to do it," he noted. "Otherwise, I wouldn't believe he was a human being."
Despite criticism from Jewish figures including Doctor Who actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, Bernstein's children publicly defended Cooper's use of the prosthetic.
Maestro received a seven-minute standing ovation after receiving its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September.
The film, also starring Carey Mulligan, will have a limited theatrical release on 22 November before streaming on Netflix on 20 December.