Mark Savage
Music Correspondent
Disney
Jeremy Allen White plays Bruce Springsteen at a pivotal point in his career
Bruce Springsteen fans have been given their first glimpse of Jeremy Allen White’s portrayal of The Boss, in the trailer for new biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere.
The film follows Springsteen as he records his sixth album, the stark and stripped-down Nebraska, testing the patience of a record label who want a follow-up to his 1980 pop hit Hungry Heart.
White, who has won three Emmys for his lead performance in The Bear, is seen playing harmonica and singing Nebraska’s title track, as well as Springsteen’s breakthrough hit Born To Run.
The film comes after another legendary US singer-songwriter got the biopic treatment, with Timothee Chalamet receiving an Oscar nomination for playing Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.
To play Springsteen, White studied hundreds of archive videos to capture the singer’s characteristic New Jersey rasp and athletic stage moves.
“There’s just so much footage,” he told GQ magazine last year.
“It’s really great to go down a YouTube rabbit hole and find him at all these different periods in his life and be able to listen to his speaking voice as well as his singing voice. It’s been really fun preparing.”
Springsteen, a regular visitor to the film set, praised White’s performance, calling him “a terrific actor” who sings “very well”.
“He’s got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply recognise and he’s just done a great job, so I’ve had a lot of fun,” said the star.
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Fan reaction to the trailer has been cautiously optimistic.
“I was expecting to hate the look of this, but I got quite emotional watching the trailer,” said one comment under the trailer on YouTube.
White “doesn’t look like The Boss as much as I was expecting,” added another, “but that last shot on stage is what sold me!”
“I wasn’t sure at first, but I do see a little Bruce in Jeremy Allen White,” commented a user on Reddit. “Not like total dopplegangers by any means, but there’s a bit of a likeness.”
“It looks like a well-made film,” added another. “I’m just not convinced, based on the trailer, that I’m watching a film about Bruce.”
Why Nebraska?
White is 33 years old – about the same age Springsteen was when he recorded Nebraska, a downbeat series of character studies that were recorded acoustically in his home bedroom in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
The contrast to the maximalism of his previous albums was compared to Bob Dylan going electric, only in reverse.
Reviewing the record in the New York Times in 1982, critic Robert Palmer wrote: “It’s been a long time since a mainstream rock star made an album that asks such tough questions and refuses to settle for easy answers – let alone an album suggesting that perhaps there are no answers.”
Getty Images
Nebraska wasn’t Springsteen’s most commercially successful album, but it cemented his reputation as a songwriter who could tackle the dark underside of the American Dream
The trailer shows Springsteen laying down some of those songs, determinedly following his muse at the expense of commercial success.
“This is not about the charts,” says Jeremy Strong, playing Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau in the trailer. “This is about Bruce Springsteen.”
At one point, director Scott Cooper recreates the album’s famously bleak artwork – a 1975 photograph of a menacing sky, viewed through the windshield of a car.
Cooper, who helped Jeff Bridges win an Oscar with his 2009 biopic Crazy Heart, previously said he aimed to have the film “capture the same spirit” that Springsteen delivered on Nebraska and share his story with “authenticity and hope”.
Like the album, the trailer’s atmosphere is brooding and portentous. Several shots see Springsteen isolated, writing alone on the floor of his bedroom as he wrestles with his burgeoning stardom.
“I’m trying to find something real in all the noise,” he says in one of the few clips of dialogue.
The trailer shifts tone to end with Springsteen on stage with the E Street Band, drenched in sweat and jumping into the air, suggesting more dynamic scenes will bookend the film.
Bruce’s emotional message to Stephen Graham
Deliver Me From Nowhere also stars British actor Stephen Graham – fresh from the success of his Netflix series Adolescence – as Springsteen’s father, Dutch.
Graham recently revealed he had received an emotional text from the singer regarding his role in the movie.
“He’s a working-class hero,” the actor said. “He’s an icon to thousands, to millions. And his text just said, ‘Thank you so much. You know, my father passed away a while ago and I felt like I saw him today and thank you for giving me that memory.’
“I was crying reading the text, do you know what I mean? Oh mate, it was beautiful. You couldn’t ask for anything more, you know, to share that with someone was gorgeous. He’s a lovely man.”
Odessa Young will play the musician’s love interest Faye, and Paul Walter Hauser will play guitar tech Mike Batlan.
Mark Seliger/20th Century Studios
Jeremy Allen White is best known for his role of Carmy Berzatto – an under-pressure chef trying to resurrect his brother’s failing restaurant in Chicago
The film is due for release in October, putting it in contention for next year’s Oscars.
It was originally due to face competition from the long-awaited Michael Jackson biopic – but that project has been pushed back to next year, with producers scheduling extensive reshoots this summer.
Both movies follow last year’s Dylan biopic, which made $140m (£104m) at the box office and earned eight Oscar nominations.
