If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to be The Boss, the new Bruce Springsteen biopic might help clue you in.
‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ delves into the world of the global rockstar, but more specifically, the moments where he’s on the cusp of more than one creative breakthrough while recording his ‘Nebraska’ album in the 1980s. Based largely on the book by Warren Zanes, director Scott Cooper (’Black Mass,' ‘Out of the Furnace’) was inspired to take this project on by his own personal connection to the music.
“Nebraska had a great deal of personal resonance for me prior to reading 'Deliver Me From Nowhere.' But I never wanted to make a film about any artist that covers either cradle to grave or in Bruce’s case, cradle to present day,” explains Cooper at a global press conference for the film.
“In this particularly personal chapter in Bruce’s life, [and] very admittedly from Bruce, [a] painful chapter in his life and because the record had such a resonance for me, it seemed like the perfect subject for me to discover. Because 'Nebraska' is always teaching me something. And this is a film about many things, but it’s about a man who’s wrestling with how honest he can be in his work and the courage to look inward and deal with the personal trauma.”
‘The Bear’ star Jeremy Allen White is stepping into the spotlight for his role in the film as Bruce. And it was a tall order to not only dive into a critical point in Springsteen’s life, but a highly emotional one as well. And on top of it all, White also had to learn about the singer’s recording and stage presence in order to make the role as believable as possible.
“There’s not only the task of portraying this man that is so well-known, but the task of doing my best to learn guitar and sing his songs as best I can,” explains White. “I’ve been very lucky in a few characters I’ve played to have a shared experience, because there’s been a skill that I’ve had to learn. And I got to be alone in a recording space and sing words that aren’t mine, that are learned, but try to make them my own. And I remember having a real breakthrough in Nashville [where we recorded] and feeling a closeness and a kinship to Bruce for the first time going into it.”
Another key figure in the feature is music critic, manager, and record producer, Jon Landeau, played by ‘Succession’ star Jeremy Strong. The album that would become ‘Nebraska’ was crafted during a specific time in Springsteen’s life, and the results delivered stripped-down songs like ‘Highway Patrolman’, ‘Atlantic City’ and ‘Johnny 99.’ Landeau worked closely with Springsteen in 1982 to craft the 10-track album and was there to see the music through from start to finish.
“I felt I had a tremendous amount of work to do to gain an understanding and, in my own way, a mastery and a fluency,” explains Strong. “You need to know everything about who you’re playing. You need to devour everything that’s been written about them, by them, said by them, study it endlessly, internalize it. So I had a lot of catching up to do. And, you know, just the deeper I got into this, the more filled up I was by it, being in the presence of what they’ve created and what they’ve done together.”
‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ not only had its source work’s author (Zanes) on set, but Springsteen and Landeau also held a huge role in the steps to making the film. And with all of the amount of information out there about the duo and their friendship, audiences who see the film will be among some of the first to learn about everything that went down in that pivtoal time in 1982.
“[Bruce] said to me early on, ‘Scott, the truth about yourself often isn’t pretty.’ He said, ‘I know that you won’t sand the edges off because you never do in your films. I want a Scott Cooper movie, and I’m always here for you. I’m here for any questions.’ And I thought maybe he thought I would check in every so often. But I checked in with him very frequently. We became very close,” Cooper remembers.
“As I said to Jeremy early on, we’re making a film about a man who happens to be Bruce Springsteen, but who also happens to be enduring some unresolved trauma, who just happens to be one of the great singer-songwriters America’s ever produced. And Bruce understood that, and he was open to that. And he would tell me things that he’s never told anyone. Jon Landau came to me and said, ‘You know, Scott, there are things that are in this film that have never been disclosed.’ And I felt a great deal of honor, [and] a great deal of love from Bruce. Aside from the film, he has shown me a sense of generosity that goes well beyond friendship that I’ll forever be grateful for.”
The film not only worked on showcasing Bruce in his creative process, but also the areas that helped build him up as well. Known for his time spent in many towns that line Jersey beaches (New Jersey also happens to be his home state), ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ highlights spots like Asbury Park, The Stone Pony and Freehold, where he spent so much of his time.
“There was something very fragile and kind of delicate for me in performing some of these moments, especially the moments filmed in Colts Neck and in the recording process and in Bruce’s moments alone. And I think I can speak for Bruce a little bit and say, you know, there was a lot of, I don’t know, fragility with him as well. I think for both of us. There was a real softness in trying to recapture these moments that have already happened,” finishes White.
“I know the history of these rooms. I know the history of this town. And to have Bruce here and witness it, there’s already a great deal of responsibility in telling any story, but I’m not just portraying a living person— I’m portraying moments that happened [in] rooms that existed. That air was breathed by Bruce. These moments are real.”
‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ opens in theaters Oct. 24.
