Bradley Cooper: Leonard Bernstein's family defend actor over Maestro nose row

The family of Leonard Bernstein have defended actor Bradley Cooper in a row over his biopic of the late composer.

The first trailer for Maestro, which Cooper both directs and stars in, was released earlier this week.

It attracted some criticism over the size of Cooper's nose, which some social media users said played up to offensive Jewish stereotypes.

But Bernstein's family said they were "perfectly fine" with Cooper using make-up to "amplify" his appearance.

There has also been criticism that a Jewish actor was not cast to play the West Side Story composer.

"It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of [Cooper's] efforts," wrote Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein in a statement.

"It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use make-up to amplify his resemblance, and we're perfectly fine with that. We're also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well."

They continued: "Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch - a practice we observed all too often perpetrated on our own father.

"At all times during the making of this film, we could feel the profound respect and yes, the love that Bradley brought to his portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, our mother Felicia. We feel so fortunate to have had this experience with Bradley, and we can't wait for the world to see his creation."

Bernstein's family added that Cooper had "included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father".

"We were touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment, his loving embrace of our father's music, and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration."