Bradley Cooper Pokes Fun at His Own ‘Crazy Demands’ as Maestro Director: ‘We Were Losing Our Minds’

Bradley Cooper had a very particular vision when it came to telling Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre’s story in Maestro.

During a panel in Los Angeles on Friday with the producers of the 2024 Oscars’ Best Picture nominees, Cooper, 49, elaborated on some of the challenges he faced while working on Maestro, which earned seven nominations this year.

He not only played the role of the legendary conductor, but also directed and produced the film. Of juggling his various responsibilities, he joked, “The biggest challenge by far was the f------ director.”

“He had these crazy demands like shooting in black and white, 35-millimeter stock and a 1:3:3 aspect ratio, and half the movie had black and white, and shooting it live and wanting to be on location,” he continued of his own outrageous “demands” as he helmed the project.

“And we were losing our minds. But we all band[ed] together and we tried to give him what he wanted,” he said of the cast, who included Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke and Sarah Silverman. 

“The truth is — I'll just give you the highlights — but this was not an easy movie to get made by any stretch of the imagination. And I had produced American Sniper at Warner Brothers and A Star Is Born at Warner Brothers and Joker at Warner Brothers, and that was a hard pass. That just gives you an idea.”

Cooper added, however, that there’s “one superpower” he has that helped him push this passion project through, despite years of delays. “I don't take anything personally. That's the thing you have to learn right away. Just — it’s business, man.”

Maestro earned a Best Picture nod at this year’s Academy Awards, but Cooper himself is also up for Best Actor, and Mulligan earned a nod for Best Actress for her portrayal of the conductor’s wife. 

"When my name came up, everyone screamed, and my baby started crying ‘cause she was so scared," Mulligan, who shares three children with husband Marcus Mumford, told PEOPLE of her reaction to the first-time nomination.

Cooper, on the other hand, said: “I was taking my daughter to school, so I missed the beginning of it. And then I came home, put it on in the kitchen, and my mom and I watched.”

Of how he’s been feeling amid the buzz of the handful of nominations, he added, “I feel like I’m present for all of it. This is just joy — the fact that this movie is recognized.”

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A big part of creating the film was involving the conductor’s children, Jamie, 71, Alexander, 68, and Nina, 61, whom he kept in constant contact with throughout filming. 

"The way he embraced us as he went along in this project — he was so open-hearted," Jamie told PEOPLE of Cooper. "We wound up feeling like we could trust him."

She added of his performance, "We had no idea that Bradley had this level of intensity and commitment about a thing when he got it in his grip. There are even certain moments in the film, when he's in motion, where he looks so exactly like our dad it makes us gasp."