Bradley Cooper made his directorial debut with A Star Is Born in 2018, and he returned to the directors seat for his new movie Maestro.

The 48-year-old Oscar nominee brings famed conductor Leonard Bernstein to life in the new movie alongside Carey Mulligan.

During a recent interview, he revealed that he was initially only tapped to act in the project. In fact, a superstar director was going to create the movie with him starring in it. He explained what happened and how he landed the exciting opportunity.

Read more about the director who Bradley Cooper replaced for Maestro…

While speaking to Emma Stone during Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Bradley confirmed that Steven Spielberg was initially attached to the film.

“He talked to me about potentially acting in it, because he knew how much I loved conducting since I was a kid. Obsessed with it,” Bradley revealed.  

The actor added that he “asked Santa Claus for a baton” the Christmas he was eight and had been enchanted by the role of the conductor ever since.

“I’ve done so much work on believing I’m a conductor that if I ever had the chance to play one, there’s years and years of rehearsal inside of me. And when you believe you are something … That’s all we’re trying to do anyway,” he said.

What happened?

“And then [Spielberg] wasn’t going to direct it. I had just finished A Star Is Born, and I had really found what I loved, which is writing and directing movies. I just said, ‘Well, what would you think if I took it on?’ I showed him A Star Is Born, and he said, ‘Yeah.’ Then I had to get the rights to the music from the kids, and I started doing research. That’s how it started back in the end of 2017,” he explained.

Six years later, Maestro will premiere on Netflix on December 20. Press play on the trailer below!

Did you know that Bradley recently launched a new creative project? This one is very different from anything he’s done before!