Bradley Cooper is unrecognisable in breathtaking transformation into 71-year-old

02 February 2024 , 16:27

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Bradley Cooper looked completely different to his usual self (Image: WWD via Getty Images)

Bradley Cooper shocked fans as he transformed into a 71-year-old Leonard Bernstein, complete with deep wrinkles.

The actor went to great lengths to turn into the famed composer for his new movie Maestro, spending up to five hours at a time in makeup. Once the transformation process was complete, 49-year-old Bradley looked completely unrecognisable.

Prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro, who has received an Oscar nomination for his work, was behind the impressive transformation. In a new video shared by Netflix on YouTube, Bradley and Kazu could be seen teaming up to complete the time-consuming process.

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Bradley Cooper looked very different in the film (Netflix: Behind the Streams/Youtbe)

For the film, Bradley had to be transformed into Leonard at five different periods of his life, from the ages of 25 to 71. "Each stage is a different application," Kazu explained in the video.

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He added: "The youngest look typically took two hours and 15 minutes and the last stage was about five hours." During the transformation, Bradley was completely covered in makeup and prosthetics, including arm and body suits.

The makeup was so convincing that even Leonard's own children were impressed. "Bradley would occasionally send us text photographs and show us the progress of his being transformed into Leonard Bernstein at different ages of Bernstein's life," his eldest daughter Jamie Bernstein recalled.

The actor spent hours in the makeup room (Netflix: Behind the Streams/Youtbe)

Leonard's youngest daughter Nina Bernstein-Simmons said she had a FaceTime call with Bradley when he was in his makeup. "It [was] my father. I just couldn’t stop laughing. It was Bradley," she said.

Bradley wore a bald cap during the transformation session and once the makeup was applied, the team added wigs to complete his look. The actor wanted to make sure everything was perfect and so tested each of the five makeup looks at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

"We did all the looks and I wanted to conduct in those looks, just to see if it didn’t look like an SNL sketch," Bradley explained in the video. He joked: "Kazu looked like he’d just run two marathons in a row."

Scarlett O'Toole