Maestro gestated for years: Mulligan already had the part, as far as Cooper was concerned, when he invited her to co-narrate a performance of Bernstein’s Candide at the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2019; by the time shooting began, Mulligan had completed back-to-back films addressing themes: Promising, a piece of poison-laced candy, and She Said, where Mulligan played one of the reporters of the story that launched the movement in the first place.