Matt Bomer will play one of Leonard Bernstein’s lovers in Bradley Cooper’s upcoming Netflix biopic about the late music giant.
Multiple sources confirmed the casting opposite Cooper, who stars as the “West Side Story” composer. Cooper also co-wrote the screenplay and directs, making it his follow-up to the Oscar-winning “A Star Is Born.”
Bernstein, who died in 1990 at age 72, was married to artist Felicia Montealegre and they had three children together. However, it was revealed after Bernstein’s death that his wife acknowledged that he was gay and had sexual relationships with men.
I’m told Bomer’s character is a clarinet player with whom Bernstein had a brief relationship.
Bernstein never publicly confirmed he was gay. Bernstein left Montealegre for a male radio station manager in 1976 but returned to the marriage the next year to care for his wife after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Carey Mulligan is set to portray Montealegre.
Cooper told PvNew in January that “Maestro” will start shooting in May. “AII wanted was to be a conductor since I was a kid,” Cooper said about the new film. “I was obsessed with it, asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. Listening to music, falling in love with it and being able to really know every single moment of a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s ‘Opus 35’ in D major, this violin concerto. I could do it as if I know everything about it without really being able to speak the language, obviously.”
No release date has been announced for the film.
