From 20th Century Studios, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere chronicles the making of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 Nebraska album when he was a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggling to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past. Recorded on a 4-track recorder in Springsteen’s New Jersey bedroom, the album marked a pivotal time in his life and is considered one of his most enduring works – a raw, haunted acoustic record populated by lost souls searching for a reason to believe.
Starring Jeremy Allen White as the Boss, the film is written for the screen and directed by Scott Cooper, based on the book “Deliver Me from Nowhere” by Warren Zanes. As the drama arrives in theatres globally this week, Peter Gray was invited to attend the global virtual press conference, moderated by Zanes, to hear Cooper, White, and Jeremy Strong, who portrays Springsteen’s long-time confidant
and manager, Jon Landau, discuss the making and collaborative process of the film.
Here are some of the behind-the-scenes factoids we uncovered during their conversation.
Warren Zanes’ 2023 book, Deliver Me from Nowhere, was invaluable to director Scott Cooper
Scott Cooper knew that after finding success with his 2009 drama Crazy Heart, Hollywood “only wants you to keep making the same movie over and over.” He spoke of resisting making movies about the likes of Elvis, Miles Davis, and Chet Baker, but reading “Deliver Me from Nowhere” and its focus on a particular chapter in Bruce’s life, as well as how resonant the ‘Nebraska’ record was, he knew it was the perfect subject to cover.
“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.”
Jeremy Strong knew nothing of Jon Landau before portraying him
Jeremy Strong admitted that coming into Bruce and Jon’s world was “daunting”, talking of how revered the musician is and likening those in the inner circle as a religion. Strong knew he was “outside of that”, so he put in a tremendous amount of work to gain that understanding so he could believable portray Jon with expected mastery and fluency.
“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, what they’ve done together.”
Jeremy Allen’s White performance as Springsteen started from a place of fear
It goes without saying that The Bear actor is taking on a daunting task in embodying “The Boss.” But he knew that the most successful way for him to take on Springsteen was to view him as a man rather than a god.
“My breakthrough in the beginning was trying to take Bruce out of it for a moment to try and allow me to get kind of close to the man during this period in 1981 and 1982. This man who’s a musician, who’s coming back home after a tour, thinking he’s going to find a little bit of peace back at home, and he finds something different. A man in his creative process searching and finding inspiration.”
Bruce Springsteen was an open collaborator
Scott Cooper had three specific lanes of collaboration when making the film. One with author Warren Zanes. One with Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong. And one with Bruce, himself, who he described as being an “open” and “giving” collaborator.
“(Bruce) said to me early on, he said, “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 question.”
The Jeremys had chemistry
Warren Zanes noted himself that watching Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong on set very much felt like he was watching Bruce and Jon. The actors knew they had to execute their dynamic, but they hadn’t pre-tested any of their chemistry.
Strong knew that you just enter into something deeply inhabited, and the rest comes out of that; “When you look at the pictures of them in those early days with their arms around each other and the smiles on their faces, you can feel that love and connection and that bond.”
White continued; “There was trust that we’d been in our own corners, understanding what we needed to have understood, and that when we came together, the love was important, the care was important, the loyalty, (and) the responsibility to one another was important.”
Jeremy Allen White had an unusual technique to master Springsteen’s raspy vocal
Yes, Jeremy Allen White is doing all his own singing in the film. And yes, after losing his voice for four days off the back of extensive recording – he recorded his vocals in the same studio that Springsteen originally recorded “Born in the USA” – he admitted to liking the sound of his own voice. But just how did he get that signature rasp?
“I remember screaming into a pillow oftentimes in the morning to try and recapture that rasp later.”
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is now screening in Australian theatres.
