Bradley Cooper's makeup artist responds to 'Jewface' criticism

Last month, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Bradley Cooper’s upcoming movie, Maestro, when its trailer was released on YouTube.

When people first saw a glimpse of the film in August, they criticized it for using prosthetics, especially a fake nose, which many found offensive and thought it resembled anti-Semitic stereotypes. People online even referred to it as “Jewface,” similar to the term “Blackface.” Now, the makeup artist who worked on the movie has spoken out about it.

A still from Maestro (IMDB)

At the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, the makeup artist responsible for Bradley Cooper’s appearance as Leonard Bernstein in the movie Maestro talked about the recent controversy.

During a press conference, the makeup artist, Kazu Hiro, was asked about the criticism the film had received on social media. Some people had concerns because Bradley Cooper used a fake nose in the film to portray the famous Jewish composer. This choice was seen as possibly problematic because it could reinforce stereotypes about Jewish people.

Hiro replied, “I wasn’t expecting it to happen; I feel sorry if I hurt some people’s feelings,” he continued, “My goal was, Bradley’s goal was, to portray Lenny as authentic as possible. Lenny had a really iconic look that everybody knows. There are so many pictures out there because he’s photogenic, too.”

The makeup artist explained, that they just wanted to respect the artist as they tried to portray him, he added, “So, we wanted to respect the look, too, on the inside. So that’s why we did several different tests and went through lots of decisions and that was the outcome in the movie. That was our intention.”

Bradley Cooper’s makeup artist responds to ‘Jewface’ criticism

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