Leonard Bernstein was not just an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian, but he was considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time and the first American conductor to receive international acclaim.

As well as being one the most celebrated prolific musicians, by all accounts his personal life also verged on the hectic at times.  Maestro is a new movie directed, co-written and starring Bradley Cooper that is based on Bernstein’s relationship with actress and activist Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan) who he married and was the mother of his three children.

Throughout his life, Bernstein had affairs with both women and men and even sought advice in April 1943 from Aaron Copland about living as a gay man in the public eye.  He even left his wife for a brief spell and after her death continued dating men until his own death years later.

In this first trailer, just released by Netflix, an excellent Cooper is sure shoo-in for the great man. And besides the always remarkable Mulligan, the cast also includes Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie, Josh Hamilton, Scott Ellis, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Alexa Swinton and Miriam Shor.  And if that doesn’t impress you enough, you should know that  Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg as producers.

PS The movie hits select theaters Nov. 22 before debuting on  Netflix on Dec. 20. But if you cannot wait Maestro  
premieres Sept. 2 in competition at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival.