\n<\/p>\n
The specter of lawsuits like that one, which successfully halted distribution of the film, have helped fuel the now common practice in Hollywood of acquiring \u201clife rights,\u201d said Jorge L. Contreras, a transactional law scholar and one of the article\u2019s authors. With such deals, Contreras said, there is no actual legal guarantee of exclusive access to someone\u2019s story, but the agreements do serve to prevent defamation lawsuits over fictionalized accounts and stave off competition from other filmmakers.<\/p>\n
For \u201cMaestro,\u201d the biopic about Leonard Bernstein\u2019s career and marriage that received seven Oscar nominations, there was something tangible at stake when the movie\u2019s star and director, Bradley Cooper, approached Bernstein\u2019s three children: the rights to Bernstein\u2019s music.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce he had permission from us to make this film, he had the option of never talking to us again \u2014 it was his movie,\u201d said Jamie Bernstein, the composer\u2019s oldest daughter.<\/p>\n
But Cooper went the opposite direction, she said, sending frequent questions about their parents and their upbringing, texting the siblings in a WhatsApp group, sharing iterations of the script and showing them edited footage in a screening room at his home. One limitation, Bernstein said, was that the family never visited the production during filming, describing it as a \u201cclosed set.\u201d<\/p>\n
The blessing of Bernstein\u2019s children also provided a layer of protection when Cooper, who is not Jewish, was criticized for using a prosthetic nose<\/a> to portray Bernstein, who is Jewish. \u201cBradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we\u2019re perfectly fine with that,\u201d the Bernsteins said in a statement before the film\u2019s premiere, which seemed to put much of the criticism to rest.<\/p>\n That level of protection was not universally viewed as a benefit: In his review of \u201cMaestro\u201d<\/a> for The New Yorker, Richard Brody criticized the film for what he called a \u201cscrupulous avoidance of controversy,\u201d raising the estate\u2019s cooperation as one potential factor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n