Bradley Cooper says he almost quit making Maestro prior to chance meeting on plane with woman who claimed to be Leonard Bernstein’s goddaughter

Bradley Cooper says a twist of fate on a plane helped him commit to making his new Leonard Bernstein biopic, Maestro.

The Philadelphia native, 48, who starred in and directed the film about the legendary musical conductor, appeared on The Howard Stern Show Tuesday to talk about the upcoming movie.

The Academy Award-nominated star said that at one point during the making of the movie, he was frustrated to the point that he wanted to quit.

Cooper said he was able to refocus after a chance meeting on a plane with a woman who asked about the film, saying she was the goddaughter of the late composer, who died in October of 1990.

‘To me, the minute that happened, it was like Lenny saying, ‘No, motherf***er, you’re doing this movie,’ Cooper said.

Cooper stars in the titular role opposite Carey Mulligan, who portrays Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre, with the movie examining their relationship.

‘Every time I saw a picture of Felicia, I just kept thinking Carey Mulligan,’ Cooper told Stern of the casting process. ‘It was a moment of divine intervention. 

‘I was just lucky I was open enough to listen to what this project was telling me to do, which happened a lot on this movie.’

Cooper, who previously directed the Oscar-nominated film A Star Is Born, has worked on the musical biopic for six years, researching in detail Bernstein’s life as well as the world of conductors.

‘I spent six years on it because I’m absolutely obsessed with conducting,’ he said.

He opened up on his experience at the helm of an orchestra to conduct Gustav Mahler’s second symphony.

‘The thing that I can almost relate it to was like riding a stallion,’ Cooper said, ‘because it is its own living, breathing organism.

‘So, you have to be the leader of it, and control it, and [be] the captain, but you also have to respect that it’s a powerful organism – which is what an orchestra is – as it’s in front of you.

Cooper told Stern that leading Symphony No. 2 was ‘heavier than Metallica.’

He added, ‘I just felt like it was so powerful. It’s like riding a dragon, basically. It was f***ing crazy.’

The cast of the upcoming movie includes Maya Hawke, Matt Bomer, Vincenzo Amato, Greg Hildreth, Michael Urie, Brian Klugman, Nick Blaemire, Mallory Portnoy and Sarah Silverman. 

Maestro is set to arrive in theaters and on Netflix December 20.