Maestro focuses on the true story of legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, and unfortunately spares little time for one of its most prominent supporting characters — David Oppenheim, played by Matt Bomer.
It's hardly surprising, since this is Bernstein's biopic and everything revolves around his larger-than-life existence and culture-shifting artistic accomplishments.
However, Oppenheim (who was indeed a real person, in case you were wondering) has a fascinating story of his own.
In the movie, we first see Bomer's character in bed with Bernstein, revealing them as lovers, friends and occasional musical partners. It's the moment when Bernstein gets the call that would change his life – he is offered the chance to conduct the New York Philharmonic that night.
Soon after he meets Felicia Montealegre (played by Carey Mulligan) and Bernstein is absolutely smitten. With longing eyes, Oppenheim witnesses what will be the end of their intimate relationship as Bernstein has found the woman of his life.
Oppenheim's role in Maestro is small and mostly focused on his personal life, but professionally, he was actually a gifted clarinettist and responsible for an artistic transformation in New York City that allowed artists like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee to flourish.
We don't get to see much of him in the film, but his story is definitely worth telling.
Born in Detroit in 1922, Oppenheim moved to New York at the age of 13 following his father's death. He started playing the clarinet, attended Juilliard for a year and graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1943, having to temporarily travel overseas during World War II to serve as an anti-tank gunner (via New York Times' obituary).
Oppenheim and Bernstein met when the musician received a scholarship to study at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts in 1940.
Over several summers he performed under famous conductors, including Toscanini and Stravinsky, and he later went to become first clarinettist for the New York Symphony Orchestra in the late 1940s.
He was Bernstein's lover and friend for years, while struggling with his own sexuality.
As shown in the movie, queer people were far from accepted in American society at the time, even if New York artists' private environments were more progressive than most.
Oppenheim got married three times – to actress Judy Holliday in 1948 (they divorced in 1957), to acting coach Stella Adler's daughter Ellen in 1957 (they divorced in 1976), and finally to Patricia Jaffe in 1987.
In a series of now-published letters between Bernstein and Oppenheim, both artists shared intimate thoughts about their own desires and their inability to be truly open with their sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, Oppenheim's career was on an upward trajectory.
After working as director of the Masterworks division of Columbia Records in the '50s and as a writer, producer and director at CBS during the '60s, he became dean of the Tisch NYU School of the Arts and changed it forever.
From 1969 to 1991, Oppenheim transformed the school's arts programs, dramatically raising its budget and introducing programs led by professionals in many artistic disciplines including photography, cinema, musical theatre, acting and writing.
Some of the school's most famous alumni at that time included filmmakers Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese, who worked as teachers afterwards.
"He made it clear that this was not going to be an academic school of the arts, this was going to be a school where working professionals teach," former dean Mary Schmidt Campbell said after Oppenheim's death in 2007 to the NYT.
"The miracle to me is that the school was founded in 1965, and within five years it was on the map. And David Oppenheim was the architect of that."
Now, Maestro gives viewers a brief glimpse at his life through Matt Bomer's performance. And the actor was committed, even if he didn't have much screen time.
During the movie's premiere in Los Angeles on December 12, 2023, Bomer revealed he actually studied music in order to prepare for the role.
"Even though I don’t use it in the film, I learned to play the clarinet. There's a scene where you meet my character, well actually he meets Felicia, and he's playing a clarinet sonata. I wanted to know it just in case they ever cut to me," he explained.
"When I tell you that my teacher had to be so patient. Learning to play the clarinet takes some time and I only had four months."
Bomer also commented on working with Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan in this movie, which could make it all the way to the Oscars 2024.
"It was honestly just a dream come true. He's [Cooper] so collaborative, generous as an artist, and really kind of finds your sweet spot as an actor and brings that out of you."
Maestro is now out on Netflix.
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Deputy Movies Editor, Digital Spy
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over seven years, mostly for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas.
Her work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema in the UK.
She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world, and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London.
Now based in the UK, Mireia joined Digital Spy in June 2023 as Deputy Movies Editor.
