Bradley Cooper is making light of his controversial preferences as a filmmaker, which recently landed him in hot water with fans of his Oscar-nominated film Maestro.

At a panel event in Los Angeles with producers of 2024′s Best Picture nominees last week, the actor and director opened up about the making of his biopic about the iconic composer Leonard Bernstein.

Poking fun at himself, he joked that the “biggest challenge by far was the fucking director”.

“He had these crazy demands, like shooting in black-and-white 35-millimeter stock and a 1:3:3 aspect ratio, and half the move in black-and-white, and shooting it live and wanting to be on location,” quipped Bradley, who also starred in the movie.

“And we were losing our minds. But we all band together and we tried to give him what he wanted,” he said of the film’s cast, which included Carey Mulligan, Sarah Silverman, Matt Bomer and Maya Hawke.

Bradley’s cheeky comments come after he caused a stir on social media last year for revealing that he enforces a “no chairs” policy on his movie sets, mirroring a similar rule held by Christopher Nolan.

“There’s no chairs on sets,” he said in a December video for Variety’s Directors On Directors series. “I’ve always hated chairs, and I feel like your energy dips the minute you sit down in the chair.”

Maestro marked Bradley’s second stab at directing, and the critically acclaimed film has earned multiple Oscar nominations — including for Best Picture — ahead of the 96th Academy Awards next month.

Back in 2018, Bradley made his directorial debut with A Star Is Born, which he acted in alongside singer Lady Gaga.