Stranger Things alum Maya Hawke has just been cast as Leonard Bernstein‘s daughter in Maestro, Netflix’s upcoming biopic about the life of the iconic composer and conductor. Bradley Cooper is directing the film as well as starring as Bernstein. Maestro is said to focus on the complicated romance between Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. The two had a 25-year marriage after meeting at a party in 1946 and had three children together, all while Bernstein struggled with his sexuality. Hawke is playing Jamie Bernstein, while it is not currently clear who will portray her siblings, Alexander Bernstein and Nina Bernstein Simmons. Carey Mulligan, Jeremy Strong, and Matt Bomer all currently round out the rest of the cast, with more players expected to be announced soon.
Cooper co-wrote Maestro‘s screenplay with Josh Singer, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Spotlight in 2016. Production on the film is set to begin this May in New York. Cooper is also producing the biopic alongside other prolific names like Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. Kristie Macosko Krieger, Fred Berner, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and Amy Durning also serve as producers, most of whom have worked with the likes of Scorsese and Spielberg before.
Hawke, who is the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, is best known for portraying Robin Buckley in the third season of Stranger Things. Robin is a friend and co-worker of Steve Harrington who gets involved with the otherworldly goings-on in the town of Hawkins. Hawke’s character is a fan favorite and will appear in the upcoming fourth season of the ever-popular Netflix series. Hawke has also appeared in Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Gia Coppola‘s Mainstream, and the first part of Netflix’s slasher trilogy, Fear Street Part One: 1994. Hawke can next be seen in Wes Anderson‘s latest film Asteroid City, as well as Netflix’s upcoming thriller Strangers.
A beloved composer, Bernstein is most known for writing the music for the Broadway musical West Side Story, which was adapted into two films, the second of which was directed by Steven Spielberg and released last year to critical acclaim. He also wrote the music for the musicals Peter Pan, On The Town, Wonderful Town, and the movie On The Waterfront. Bernstein was a humanitarian who was always fighting for world peace, and one of his last performances before his death in 1990 was a celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall by playing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 televised live worldwide from Berlin.
Maestro currently does not have an official release date.
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