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Matt Bomer in talks to play Bradley Cooper’s love interest in Leonard Bernstein biopic

Multiple sources have confirmed the Magic Mike star's casting, according to Variety.

By Alastair James

Words: Alastair James; pictures: Netflix

Matt Bomer has been cast as Bradley Cooper’s on-screen lover in an upcoming biopic of the composer, Leonard Bernstein.

The Magic Mike star’s involvement has been confirmed by multiple sources, according to reports with Cooper set to play the famous West Side Story maestro.

Bernstein, who never publicly confirmed he was gay, died in 1990 aged 72, but his wife Felicia Montealegre confirmed later that he had been gay and had sexual relationships with men. 

 
 
 
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Film and TV Industry bible, Variety, reports that Bomer will play a clarinet player with whom Bernstein had an affair. The composer left his wife briefly in 1976 for a male radio station manager before returning after Felicia was diagnosed with lung cancer. 

The film – Maestro – has been co-written and will be directed by Cooper, who did the same with A Star is Born

Cooper told Variety in January that filming was due to start in May. 

“All wanted was to be a conductor since I was a kid. I was obsessed with it, [I] asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. Listening to music, falling in love with it, and being able to really know every single moment of a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s ‘Opus 35’ in D major, this violin concerto.

“I could do it as if I know everything about it without really being able to speak the language, obviously.”

Maestro has no release date as of yet.

Attitude’s new-look March/April issue is out now.