The new Bruce Springsteen biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, gets its wide theatrical release this Friday, October 24. To promote the movie, the Boss, director Scott Cooper, and some cast members sat for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopolous.
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As previously reported, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere looks at Bruce’s life while he was making his acclaimed, stripped-down 1982 album, Nebraska. During this time, Springsteen was dealing with serious clinical depression, which also is depicted in the film. Stephanopolous asked the Boss what it was like watching a film “about the most painful moments of your life.”
“Well, they tend to be the most interesting moments of your like at the end of the day,” Springsteen maintained. “You know, when you’re making your way through some sort of crucible, hopefully to come out the other side with some knowledge gained, some greater sense of self, and a story to tell.”
Stephanopolous then pointed out that Cooper had described the movie as being about “a neglected soul repairing himself through music.” Bruce replied, “Well, music was the first way that I really medicated my anxieties and my depression.”
Stephanopolous also asked Springsteen if, during his “darkest moments,” he knew that he would “emerge whole” from his struggles.
“No,” Bruce replied. “In the middle of it, there’s a lot of confusion, chaos… unsureness. I think that I was very surprised when I had my initial whatever you’d like to call it, breakdown, anxiety attacks. I’d up to that point been quite successful in using my ‘musical meds’ in keeping myself relatively steady. So it was very shocking to run into it where suddenly those things stopped working.”
About Jeremy Allen White Being Chosen to Portray Springsteen
Jeremy Allen White, the Emmy-winning star of the Hulu series The Bear, portrayed Springsteen in the movie.
Stephanopolous asked White what he thought when he first got the call offering him the role of the Boss.
“They’re such big shoes to fill,” he said. “I just, I wasn’t sure. I don’t play guitar, I don’t sing. I said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to find a guy who can kind of do some of these things?’”
Springsteen shared, though, that he had no one else in mind for the part.
“There was something about the way Jeremy carried himself,” Bruce explained. “And he was the first guy that I thought of. There was a common physicality in the way we moved, I thought. And I’d seen The Bear and I knew that Jeremy was capable of really delving into the inner psychology of his characters. And I knew that was gonna be the essential element for the picture. I never had a thought for anybody else, you know?”
Springsteen added that he was “really excited” when he found out that White was interested in the part.
Stephanopolous’ Full Interview Will Air on ABC News Live
Segments of Stephanopolous’ interview with Springsteen, Cooper and Deliver Me from Nowhere cast members were shown on ABC’s Good Morning America.
A full special focusing on Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is scheduled to stream tonight (October 21) on ABC News Live at 8 p.m. ET.
(Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for BFI)
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