“Younger” star Miriam Shor has been cast in Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic, “Maestro.”
Shor exclusively tells Variety that she is playing actor and model Cynthia O’Neal, a friend of the legendary musician and his wife Felicia Montealegre.
Cooper directed the Netflix film, co-wrote it with Josh Singer and stars as Bernstein. Carey Mulligan portrays Montealegre.
“I play Cynthia O’Neal, who was a very good friend of the Bernsteins, particularly his wife, Felicia,” Shor said Thursday night at the Los Angeles premiere of her and Cooper’s latest film, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” “I mean, that was unbelievable. Because an actor who also directs, to get to work with Bradley… he’s a savant. It’s miraculous. So that was really special, I was really grateful.”
Shor also revealed that she hasn’t reached out to O’Neal yet about her portrayal in the film, but plans to once the movie is released. “I became an avid fan,” she said.
“Maestro” chronicles Bernstein and Montealegre’s romance and 25-year-marriage. It was revealed after Bernstein’s death, in 1990 at age 72, that his wife acknowledged that he was gay and had sexual relationships with men. As Variety previously reported, Matt Bomer plays one of his lovers.
The cast also includes Maya Hawke, Michael Urie, Sarah Silverman and Gideon Glick.
Before shooting began, Cooper talked to Variety about his passion for the project. “All I wanted was to be a conductor since I was a kid,” he said. “I was obsessed with it, asked Santa Claus for a baton when I was 8. Listening to music, falling in love with it and being able to really know every single moment of a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s ‘Opus 35’ in D major, this violin concerto. I could do it as if I know everything about it without really being able to speak the language, obviously.”
Shor starred as Diana Trout on “Younger” from 2015 to 2021. She most recently starred the Netflix films “The Midnight Sky” and “Lost Girls.” Her television credits also include “The Americans” and “The Good Wife.”
