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Maestro: King's Ely pupils meet Netflix's Bernstein movie crew

King's Ely Bradley Cooper and Lizelle GoosenKing's Ely
Bradley Cooper posed for a photograph with King's Ely teacher Lizelle Goosen

School pupils got a taste of the movies during the filming of a new Netflix production about American musician Leonard Bernstein.

Cast and crew from the movie Maestro were in Ely, Cambridgeshire, last week and took time out to talk to pupils and staff at King's Ely.

Its writer, director and star, Bradley Cooper, posed for a photo with teacher Lizelle Goosen and producers talked to some of the pupils.

Carey Mulligan is also in the new film.

The movie Maestro - also known as Bernstein - tells the story of the composer, conductor and musician, played by Cooper, and his wife Felicia Montealegre, played by Mulligan.

Bernstein is probably best known for his musical West Side Story - a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet, updated and moved to New York City.

In 1973, he chose Ely Cathedral as the venue to film his performance of Mahler's Second Symphony.

Natasha Talbot Old cars on a street in ElyNatasha Talbot
Old cars were brought in to make the street scenes look authentic
Leonard Bernstein
The composer and musician was born in 1918 and died in 1990

The school's head of film studies, Jonathan Smith, and his A-level students were given the chance to meet the production's location supervisor, who gave them a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the action and the costume, hair and make-up facilities.

Natasha Talbot Ely Cathedral and an old vanNatasha Talbot
The cathedral, about 17 miles (27km) north of Cambridge, was lit up during filming
Natasha Talbot A pub, and old car and a craneNatasha Talbot
Pub and street signs were also changed for the production

King's Ely's director of marketing and admissions, Nick Tappin, said it took about three weeks to create the film set "for just three days of filming, and probably just a few minutes of screen time".

"The location manager said how amazing Ely is as a place to film," he said.

"They paid real attention to detail, replacing signs to make them look old and even turning dog poop bins into topiary trees.

"Two of our staff were even asked to be extras, so they had a great time."

Mr Tappin said the filming "created quite a buzz in the city, and the location manager said people really embraced the whole thing".

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