'Maestro' star Bradley Cooper sat through 5 hours of makeup in the middle of the night to play an elderly Leonard Bernstein

• Bradley Cooper was in full makeup as Leonard Bernstein while directing "Maestro."
• Makeup artist Kazu Hiro said Cooper would show up at 1 a.m. to get into character before filming.
• "He wanted makeup to be finished before the crew call, so he would appear as Lenny to set up the shoot and everything," Hiro said.

Bradley Cooper was so dedicated to embodying the spirit of Leonard Bernstein for "Maestro," that he even directed the movie while looking just like the legendary composer.

In the Netflix original, Cooper plays Bernstein at various stages throughout his life, from his 20s to his 70s. 

In order to portray Bernstein in his later years, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" star sat through five hours of makeup, beginning the process as early as 1 a.m., makeup artist Kazu Hiro revealed after a Monday screening at the New York Film Festival, according to Entertainment Weekly.

"The last stage, the whole time, our call time was one in the morning," Hiro said. "The other thing was he wanted makeup to be finished before the crew call, so he would appear as Lenny to set up the shoot and everything. That also kind of made our call time two hours earlier than normal, so that was quite tough."

For the transformation into the older character, Cooper had to put on more than just facial prosthetics. 

"He had covered pretty much everywhere, the bodysuit and arms," Hiro said. "That took over five hours."

To get Cooper to look like young Bernstein, Hiro said the actor sat in the makeup chair for two hours to lift his face, giving him the appearance of a 20-year-old.

"As he gets older, we had to add more elements," Hiro said. "The younger stage was the nose and lips and chin and a wig. After the third stage, he started having cheek and neck."

"Maestro" is scheduled to hit select theaters on November 22 and begin streaming on Netflix on December 20. The movie also stars Sarah Silverman, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, and Carey Mulligan as Bernstein's wife Felicia Montealegre.