How Bradley Cooper Used Snoopy to Lighten Up a Dramatic Scene in ‘Maestro’

Bradley Cooper’s portrait of Leonard Bernstein, Maestro (out now on Netflix), is a most unusual biopic. As is discussed in The Messenger’s very positive review of the film, the script decides not to highlight the most famous bullet points of the great composer and conductor’s career, instead focusing on his personal relationships and also, for lack of a better term, vibes. 

A significant dramatic moment in the movie happens when Lenny (Cooper) and his wife Felicia (Carey Mulligan) have a major blow-up argument in their home on Thanksgiving Day. The central issue is that the "understanding" the two had formed at the beginning of their romance— that Bernstein was bisexual and would continue to have dalliances outside their marriage — is no longer working for Felicia, at least not in the indiscrete way Lenny is conducting himself. He’s also stumbling home, looking all raggedy after benders, and keeping the children wondering where he’s been. 

The sequence, set soon after the 1971 debut of Bernstein’s Mass, begins with Lenny coming home to his New York City apartment. Holding a stuffed Snoopy toy, he bellows in a hungover daze: "Who left this Snoopy?!?"

When no one answers, he continues with a highly quotable, "Who abandoned Snoopy in the vestibule?!?" and "Who abandoned Snoopy, I mean it’s his day?!?!"

For some viewers, this is enough to put together that this is a Thanksgiving scene. Bernstein famously lived at the Dakota Apartments on West 72nd St. and Central Park. According to legend, the complex got its name because, when it was built in the 1880s, that area was so underdeveloped that naysayers said it may as well be in the Dakota Territories. Of course, now it is one of the more luxe areas in New York City, and the list of celebs who live or have lived in the remarkable structure is legendary. (This writer did, indeed, once attend a soirée at producer Jane Rosenthal’s pad and can report back that the digs are quite choice!) 

Of course, the Dakota is best known for being where John Lennon was shot (Yoko Ono still lives there) as well as being host to a cell of urban Satanists, as depicted in the satirical horror film Rosemary’s Baby. Also: it’s a great spot to be (I’m sure) if you want to see the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Charles Schulz's Peanuts pooch Snoopy first achieved inflatable balloon status in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1968. While there have been several variants of the float (the current one being "Beagle Scout Snoopy"), he has made 42 appearances over the years, the most of any character. As Leonard Bernstein says, it is his day.

Moreover, it is hard to overstate just how important a cultural icon he was at the period in history depicted in Maestro. While Apollo 11’s nicknames for the Lunar and Command Modules may have been Eagle and Columbia, Apollo 10’s were Snoopy and Charlie Brown. No wonder the float appeared as "Astronaut Snoopy" in recent years.

Anyway, the punchline to all this comes in the devastating dramatic scene in which Felicia finally unleashes years of pent-up frustration at her husband. The sequence plays out in a single long take, shot with a wide composition, and overlapping dialogue that feels very naturalistic. These two actors are really going at it, and when there is finally a lull, we hear the kids from the next room shout, "You’re going to miss Snoopy!" and "Snoopy’s here!"

That’s when, through the giant bedroom windows, we see Snoopy float by, right past these two emotionally spent people who have just (temporarily) nuked their marriage. 

In the enormous FYC coffee table book that Netflix sent out to some critics this season, Cooper gives a whole breakdown of the scene (which was not shot on location, it’s all movie magic folks!) Putting the camera at a distance, he writes, is meant to evoke memories he had of watching his parents fight from the top of a staircase. He also writes that for the punchline of Snoopy’s appearance to work, it had to play out in one take. 

"If we cut back to a wide view so that Snoopy can appear, it becomes premeditated and self-conscious, and as a viewer, I would be aware of the cutting and, again, the fact that I am watching a movie. I know it’s an odd thing to say, but that’s always my goal — to forget it’s a movie while I am watching."

As far as I am concerned, it is a brilliant setup and payoff; the work of a true directorial maestro.