"Springsteen" biopic starring Jeremy Allen White to be released in October
Written and directed by Scott Cooper, it retraces the 1982 era, the year in which “Nebraska” was recorded.Per restare aggiornato entra nel nostro canale Whatsapp
Expected in Italian cinemas on October 23, “Springsteen - Deliver Me from Nothing” brings to life the ambitious project of a biopic dedicated to the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen , inspired first and foremost by his personal life, even before the extraordinary results achieved in over fifty years of career.
Written and directed by Scott Cooper—already accustomed to music-themed films after the splendid “Crazy Hearth”—the film draws heavily on Warren Zanes's book “Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska,” which traces the 1982 recording of “Nebraska,” arguably Springsteen's most intimate and introspective album, born during a period of intense research and a precursor to the international success he achieved with the E Street Band and the song “Born in the USA.” In addition to the extraordinary Jeremy Allen White—who bears an uncanny resemblance to the rock star—the cast also includes Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, and Gaby Hoffmann.
Perhaps not everyone knows that Springsteen rejected the idea of a film based on his life for years, trying to escape the mythologization his figure had inevitably instilled in the imaginations of millions of fans worldwide. What convinced him this time was Cooper's desire to focus the story on the human experience, avoiding the risk of a hagiographic approach focused solely on his stage successes.
Speaking about it, the director said: "It wasn't Bruce Springsteen, the icon and rock star who could fill stadiums. It was Bruce alone in a rented house, trying to understand himself and his unresolved traumas through song. The book captured the tension between the myth of Bruce Springsteen and the man. That's where the film lived for me. Not in the spectacle, but in the silence, the hesitation, the uncertainty. I saw a cinematic portrait of an artist willing to strip himself completely."
And explaining what convinced Springsteen to greenlight the project, he added: "Bruce has famously turned down countless offers to tell his story. But he saw that I was determined to avoid any hagiography. Bruce once told me, 'The truth about yourself is rarely pretty, and I want you to tell the truth about my struggles.'"
Springsteen himself offered his perspective: "What drove this project forward was the fact that I think we had a very specific idea. For lack of a better word, it was an anti-biopic. It's not really a biopic, it just takes a couple of years of my life, when I was 31 and 32, and really looks at it during a time when I made that particular record and when I was going through some tough times in my life. I'm old and I don't give a shit what I do now."
Recounting her experience with her sister Pamela during a closed-door preview, she added: "I was able to watch the film with my sister, who is a year younger than me and is a little blonde girl in the film, even though she was actually a little girl with short brown hair. But she was sitting next to me, we watched the film together, and she held my hand, and at the end she turned to me and said, 'Isn't it wonderful that we have this? '"
At the center of the adaptation is inevitably Jeremy Allen White, star of the television series "The Bear" and today one of Hollywood's most sought-after and acclaimed stars. In a past interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen praised the actor's work, also highlighting his patience and availability during set visits: "I wasn't there for certain scenes. If there was a scene coming up that was sometimes really personal on a deep level, I wanted the actors to feel completely free and I didn't want to hinder in any way, so I just stayed home. [...] Jeremy Allen White was really, really tolerant of me on the days I was on set. I said to him, 'Look, any time I'm getting in your way, just let me know with your eyes and I'll go home. ' So on the days I was there, he was wonderfully accommodating. And it was just fun. I appreciated that."