‘Maestro’ could score double digit Oscar nominations

Bradley Cooper‘s first movie as a director, “A Star is Born,” reaped eight Oscar nominations in 2019.  We think his sophomore outing, Netflix’s Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro,” could earn even more recognition from the academy. The movie, which was released in US theaters on November 22 before heading to Netflix on December 20, stars Cooper as Bernstein while Carey Mulligan plays his wife, Felicia Montealegre. Bernstein was a big personality and “Maestro” could be in for a big year. Let’s take a look at all of the categories in which we think “Maestro” could be a major contender.

Best Picture
Cooper is a nine-time Oscar nominee (we’ll explain the other bids later on in the relevant categories) but what might surprise you is that it is Best Picture where he has been nominated the most (four times). His first nomination was back in 2015 for “American Sniper” and he was nominated in 2019 for “A Star is Born,” which he also wrote and directed. He contended in 2020 for “Joker” and in 2022 for “Nightmare Alley.” “Joker” is the only one of the four Best Picture bids in which he did not appear. We are predicting that Cooper, who produced “Maestro” alongside Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg (amongst others), will be nominated for a fifth time here. Our predicted Best Picture nominees are “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers,” “Maestro,” “Past Lives,” “The Color Purple,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” and “American Fiction.” Biopics do well in this category, with recent nominees including “Elvis” in 2023, “King Richard” in 2022, “Mank” and “Judas and the Black Messiah” in 2021, and “Ford v Ferrari” in 2020.

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Best Director
Cooper was famously snubbed in 2019 for “A Star is Born.” There is likely to be a feeling that he is owed after that, particularly as he has now proved that he is a top-quality filmmaker. Cooper inserts so much flair and pizzazz into “Maestro,” making it one of the best biopics in recent years. At the moment, however, we predict that Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), and Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) will be interested, so Cooper could miss out again. That could change, however.

Best Actor
Cooper turns in the most transformative role of the year. The makeup work is excellent, but it’s Cooper’s mannerisms and voice work that take this performance to the next level. The difference is tone and pitch when Cooper plays a young Bernstein, a middle-aged Bernstein, and an older Bernstein, is the work of a true master. Cooper is in third spot in our predicted nominees for Best Actor with Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) above him. Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) are below him. This writer, however, is predicting Cooper to win. This would be his fourth Best Actor nomination after “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2013, “American Sniper” in 2015, and “A Star is Born” in 2019. He also picked up a Best Supporting Actor nomination for “American Hustle” in 2014.

Best Actress
Mulligan is Cooper’s leading lady. His last female co-star, Lady Gaga, earned a Best Actress nomination for “A Star is Born.” We think Mulligan will do the same here. Our predicted nominees are Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), and Fantasia Barrino (“The Color Purple”). Mulligan goes toe to toe with Cooper and it is just as much her film as it is Cooper’s (she’s even top-billed!). This would be her third Oscar nomination after two Best Actress bids — the first in 2010 for “An Education” and the second in 2021 for “Promising Young Woman.”

Best Original Screenplay
Cooper has never been nominated in this category, but he did land a Best Adapted Screenplay bid (for “A Star is Born”). He co-writes this script with Josh Singer, who won this category with Tom McCarthy in 2016 for “Spotlight.” The screenplay wrestles together a complex man and a complicated marriage into a moving narrative full of wit, warmth, and artistry. Our predicted nominees here are “Past Lives,” “The Holdovers,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Barbie,” and “Maestro.” “Maestro,” however, is just on the precipice with “Saltburn” and “May December” close behind.

Best Cinematography
This category has a soft spot for black-and-white films. “The Tragedy of Macbeth” was nominated in 2022, “Mank” won in 2021, “The Lighthouse” won in 2020, “Cold War” was nominated in 2019, and, in the same year, “Roma” won. “Maestro” is partly in black and white (and it’s beautiful) while the other half looks equally exquisite. Matthew Libatique is the director of photography here, reuniting with Cooper after he earned a Best Cinematography bid in 2019 for “A Star is Born.” Libatique was also nominated in 2011 for “Black Swan.” We think he’ll land another nomination here alongside “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Poor Things,” and “The Zone of Interest.”

Best Film Editing
Cutter Michelle Tesoro is looking for her first Oscar nomination, although she did win the 2021 Emmy for Best Edited Limited Series or Motion Picture for Television for “The Queen’s Gambit.” She may have to wait a little longer for her first Oscar bid as this is a tough category. “Maestro” is just outside of our predicted nominees here along with “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Ferrari.” Our predicted nominees are “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers,” and “Barbie.”

Best Costume Design
Period pieces tend to do well here — “Elvis,” “Babylon,” “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” were all nominated last year while “Nightmare Alley,” “West Side Story,” “Cyrano,” and “Cruella” reaped bids in 2022 (“Cruella” won). Costumer Mark Bridges has previously won for a black-and-white film, too when he triumphed in 2012 for “The Artist.” He won his second Oscar in 2018 for “Phantom Thread” while he also secured bids in 2015 for “Inherent Vice” and in 2020 for “Joker.” Again, however, “Maestro” is on the precipice (with “Napoleon” and “Oppenheimer”). Our predicted nominees are “Poor Things,” “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Color Purple,” and “Wonka.”

Best Production Design
Similarly, period films get nominated in this category a lot, too. “Elvis,” “Babylon,” and “The Fabelmans” were nominated earlier this year; “West Side Story,” “Nightmare Alley,” and “The Power of the Dog” were nominated in 2022; and, in 2021, “Mank” won and “News of the World” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” were nominated. Kevin Thompson is the production designer on duty here Rena DeAngelo is the set decorator*. Thompson has never been nominated for Oscars but DeAngelo scored bids in 2016 (for “Bridge of Spies,” shared with Adam StockhausenandBernhard Henrich) and in 2022 (for “West Side Story,” shared with Stockhausen). Our predicted nominees in this category are “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and “The Color Purple.”
*This article has been corrected to fix the mistake on IMDB regarding who was listed as set decorators.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
It’s unclear who exactly would be on the ballot for this potential nomination but Kazuhiro Tsuji and Vivian Baker are credited in the makeup team and they won the Oscar in 2020 for “Bombshell” (along with Anne Morgan). Tsuji, who is also known as Kazu Hiro, also won the award in 2018 for “Darkest Hour” and was also nominated in 2007 for “Click” and 2008 for “Norbit.” Tsuji is known for transforming actors into real-life icons and he does it again here — Cooper is unrecognizable as Bernstein. Our odds chart for this category isn’t yet up but this is set to be a heavy, heavy favorite.

Best Sound
Again, it’s unclear who would be on the ballot for this nomination but musicals and music-centric films like this one always do well in this category. “Elvis” was nominated earlier this year, “West Side Story” was nominated in 2022, “Soul” was nominated in 2021, and “Sound of Metal” won in the same year. Our odds chart here isn’t up yet but “Maestro” should be right amongst the top contenders.

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