EXCLUSIVE: Jewish prosthetics expert SLAMS ‘stupid, horribly woke’ backlash against Bradley Cooper’s ‘anti-Semitic’ Leonard Bernstein nose

• Bradley, 48, has been accused of playing to ‘Jewface’ stereotypes with the exaggerated facial feature for his latest role
• Jewish dental prosthetics designer Gary Archer insisted the backlash is ‘horribly woke’ and said he does not find it offensive ‘one iota’
• READ MORE: Leonard Bernstein’s family DEFEND Bradley Cooper’s role in biopic over ‘anti-Semitic prosthetics’

A Jewish dental technician and prosthetics designer, who has worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest movies, has slammed the backlash against Bradley Cooper’s fake ‘Jewish’ nose in the upcoming film Maestro.

Cooper’s appearance in the newly-released trailer for the Leonard Bernstein biopic sparked online chatter on Tuesday, with some calling out the actor and director for playing to ‘Jewface’ stereotypes with the exaggerated facial feature and the casting of a non-Jewish actor in a Jewish role.

Gary Archer, who is based in Los Angeles and has worked on films such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Mrs. Doubtfire, Interview with the Vampire, and the Austin Powers movies, has described the reaction as ‘horribly woke’ and said the uproar is simply ‘stupid’.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Archer insisted that 48-year-old Cooper is a ‘freaking marvelous actor’ and admitted that he ‘does not find it offensive one iota’ that The Hangover star has been cast to play a Jewish person.

‘Personally, I’m Jewish and I’ve got a great big bump in my nose, but the truth be told, if you’re going to be portraying a character that had a nose like that, then portray him that way, make the prosthetic!’ he said. 

New movie: Bradley Cooper takes on the role of Leonard Bernstein in upcoming film Maestro

Different look: Cooper wore prosthetics on his face in order to transform into the late composer

Icon: Leonard Bernstein was a conductor, composer, pianist and music educator who died in October 1990

He continued: ‘If you’re going to be offended by everything, then you’re going to have a very sad, miserable existence. It’s horribly woke.’

Archer said he ‘absolutely does not’ see an issue with Cooper playing a Jewish man and is a ‘damn good choice’ for the role of the late composer. 

‘Quite honestly for people to start saying, “Oh, he’s making a stereotype of Jewish people…” that’s just being [really] stupid. Woke is the best word for it, it’s just stupid.

‘There are a lot of Jewish people that I work with in Hollywood and I can understand if he was doing something that was portraying Jewish people in a really bad light, but it’s not. Leonard Bernstein was a marvelous composer! It’s much ado about nothing!’

Speaking about prosthetics specifically, Archer continued: ‘All in all, it enhances the actor’s ability to get into character and if a nose helped Bradley to get into the Leonard Bernstein character, then more power to him, to the make-up people, and more power to the producer or director for saying, “Right let’s go down this road”. 

‘A lot of it comes down to the actor and the director, because they’re the ones that are putting the whole thing together and they’re the ones that are going to say, “Here’s who we want you to portray.”

‘Some actors are very, very minimalist and they like to do the acting without a bunch of prosthetics to get into character, whereas other actors feel that in order to properly portray the part, they need to look more like him and I get the fact that they wanted to make him look a lot more Leonard Bernstein.

‘To be honest, all this fuss over a nose I think is a bit overblown,’ the dental technician added, before complimenting famed prosthetics creator Kazu Hiro – who is the man responsible for Cooper’s Bernstein nose. 

Co-stars: Carey Mulligan plays Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre in the Netflix biopic

Artistic talent: Kazu Hiro, pictured here at the Oscars in 2020, is the artist who did Bradley’s prosthetics for Maestro

Transformation: The 48-year-old actor models a prominent nose in the trailer for the film, which lands on Netflix on December 20

‘Kazu’s really good at what he does, I’ve met him before and I’ve worked with him on other projects,’ Archer said, before claiming that everyone is just ‘jumping on the woke bandwagon’.

‘They’re being far too sensitive and it’s like, “Let me pick something that I’m going to be offended about today,”‘ Archer said and revealed he still gets backlash for the Austin Powers teeth he created.

‘Do you how much crap I still get from all the years ago when I created the Austin Powers teeth?’ he admitted. ‘People come to me and say, “oh you’re the one that’s responsible for the bad British teeth”. That whole genre of bad British teeth that all British people have got bad teeth.

‘And I say, “no, I’m not responsible for it!” Mike Myers asked me to make a set of teeth, so I made a set of teeth, Mike Myers played Austin Powers. Austin Powers is not indicative of all British people!

‘It is the illusion, it is the ability to create an illusion,’ he continued. ‘When we make vampire teeth for people, it’s an illusion because we all know that people don’t walk around with vampire teeth anymore. We don’t have fangs that come out so that we can bite people in the neck!’

Meanwhile, FX artist Holland Berson said she can ‘understand the controversy’, but praised Hiro’s work.

‘As a prosthetic makeup artist, I have great respect for the work of Kazu Hiro, and I believe his makeup design was intended to thoughtfully push the resemblance to Leonard Bernstein,’ Berson told DailyMail.com.

‘From stills, I do understand how the final look can appear as a caricature. I read that it is supported by the late conductor’s children, and I believe they are the ones most entitled to an opinion.

The expert: Gary Archer is a Jewish dental prosthetics designer and creator based in Los Angeles

Throwback: Archer is responsible for Mike Myers’ memorable teeth in the Austin Powers films

‘As a teacher for rising artists and as a Jewish person, I also understand the controversy and the desire to see Jewish actors playing Jewish roles.

‘I believe this is the true crux of the situation, and it’s a necessary conversation for us all to have as Hollywood and the rest of the industry navigate and define the evolving boundaries that keep people seen, safe, and supported,’ she added.

The comments come after it was claimed father-of-one Cooper stole the role of Bernstein from half-Jewish actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

Many have been quick to question why Gyllenhaal, whose mother is Jewish, was not cast despite previously showing interest.

The two top Hollywood A-Listers both pitched movies about the music star in 2018 – but Cooper’s project won the rights to Bernstein’s music, effectively killing the Gyllenhaal rival.

Gyllenhaal announced his project first, on May 1, confirming that he would be working with director Cary Fukunaga, with Bron Studios, before the pair scrambled to get permission for the musical rights.

Cooper announced his plan on May 18.

Ultimately Cooper came out on top, with Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese being given the rights alongside Paramount.

Gyllenhaal’s movie – The American – was not given permission to feature any music that Bernstein composed, including West Side Story, causing the project to come screeching to a halt.

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