After the controversy with Bradley Cooper and his nasal appendage, what are the 12 best and worst fake noses in the history of cinema

In August, the first trailer for Maestro, a biopic about Leonard Bernstein, the composer of Love without barriers and much more, almost immediately provoked a violent reaction: Bradley Cooper He wore a prosthetic nose for the lead role.

Critics on social media accused the star, who is also the film’s director, of playing with an anti-Semitic cliché with the XL prosthesisand asked if someone Jewish would be more sensitive when choosing makeup.

Cooper and Netflix, where Teacher began airing Wednesday, December 20, they declined to comment.

In a statement at the time, Bernstein’s three sons, who had worked with Cooper on the film, came to the actor’s defense and noted in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter): “It turns out it’s true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice big nose.”

The family subsequently declined to comment further.

This is not the first time a large partition has appeared on screen or generated controversy.

Here are 12 of the most memorable fake noses in movie history, ranked by size, from delicate to elephantine.

Orson Welles, “Thirst for Evil”

Like Edmond Rostand’s poet and swordsman, Cyrano de Bergerac, Orson Welles He was obsessed with his nose. He thought his body was too small; and it was, of course, completely normal.

But instead of channeling his fixation into a wholesome activity like, say, helping another man win the affections of his beloved, he has sported dozens of fakes throughout his professional career.

One of the biggest was the pair of belligerent nostrils he wore as corrupt police captain Hank Quinlan in the 1958 murder mystery, thirst for evil.

Nicole Kidman, “The Hours”

Nicole Kidman may have given a moving performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002), but Denzel Washington joked that it was the prosthetic nose she wore that won her the Oscar for Best Actress.

“The Oscar rightfully goes to Nicole Kidman,” he joked when announcing his win.

Kidman I wore a new one every day on seteven though he said The associated press who kept a silver one that had been given to him.

Rudolph, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

With Santa’s elf workshop nearby, in this 1964 special, the best thing Rudolph’s father, Donner, could do to help his son fit in at school was to create a fake nose out of clay.

He won’t win any father of the year awards for this effort.

Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”

Like Kidman, Meryl Streep she rode the prosthetic nose she wore to play British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 2011 Phyllida Lloyd biopic and won the Oscar (her third).

But this time the genius of the transformation lies in its subtlety: when the first photos of Streep on set were published, the press didn’t say a word about the nose.

Laurence Olivier, “Richard III”

Unlike Welles, Laurence Olivier he did not often wear a false nose for his roles due to a perceived insecurity regarding the size of his own; rather, it was just one of many theatrical props, including masks and wigs, that he and many other actors often transformed into various characters.

In Richard III (1955), also directed by Olivier, his character’s nose is, as one blogger put it, “majestically prominent”.

Margaret Hamilton, “The Wizard of Oz”

Margaret Hamilton She naturally acquired some traits for playing the Wicked Witch of the West: She was known for her oversized nose, which her father encouraged her to surgically alter.

But she had the last laugh when she landed the role of the now-iconic villain The Wizard of Oz (1939), so his nose became even longer (and greener).

Matt Damon, “Now I’m Thirteen”

Sure, there are artists with bigger noses on this list, but Matt Damon he could be the only one who planned a scam against him.

In this 2007 sequel to The big scamhis character, Linus, dons the prosthetic — which Damon nicknamed “The Brody” in a nod to actor Adrien Brody — in an attempt to disguise himself and gain access to a case full of diamonds.

It was worth it.

Steve Carell, “Foxbusters”

Steve Carell’s heightened stupidity in this 2014 true crime story may have left some people wondering: the real-life version of his character, John du Pont, the billionaire wrestling enthusiast turned murderer.

He wasn’t very well known, so the attention to detail seemed excessive.

But the nose served another purpose: to make the audience forget they were watching Carell, who at the time was mostly known for comedies.

Ralph Fiennes, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

Is it functional? Probably not.

Snakes have no nose, only nostrils, and they smell with their forked tongue.

We wouldn’t be surprised if JK Rowling’s evil reptile in the 2011 franchise finale had one too. But at least we can finally have an answer as to what Voldemort’s abnormally long fingers are for: picking his nose.

Alec Guinness, “Oliver Twist”

Charles Dickens wrote to Fagin in Oliver Twist as a thoroughly anti-Semitic villain, and in the 1948 film adaptation, Alec Guinness, the non-Jewish actor who played the character, spoke with a monotone and appeared with squinted eyes and an enormous prosthetic hooked nose.

The nose was considered “incredibly numb,” as he wrote The Jewish Chronicleand caused great anger among Holocaust survivors.

Billy Crystal, “The Princess Bride”

Billy Crystal It was already so much fun The engaged princess (1987) in which director Rob Reiner claimed he had to leave the set during Crystal’s scenes as Miracle Max because he couldn’t contain his laughter.

The addition of a tomato-shaped nose took Crystal’s physical comedy to the max.

Mandy Patinkin, who played Inigo Montoya, injured a rib while trying to hold back laughter.

Steve Martin, “Roxanne”

You could land a bird on that thing (which director Fred Schepisi did).

Steve Martin’s 5-inch appendix for the 1987 film Roxanne took 90 minutes to apply each day and 2 minutes to remove.

“God, I hated that thing,” Martin told the Washington Post.