With the official theatrical premiere of the Bruce Springsteen biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere approaching, a new preview clip from the film has debuted online that recreates an exhilarating live performance by the Boss and his E Street Band.
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The snippet shows Springsteen, portrayed by The Bear star Jeremy Allen White, performing a rocking version of Bruce’s signature tune “Born to Run.” Although his physical resemblance to the Boss is marginal, White offers up a faithful impersonation of the New Jersey rock legend’s gruff singing voice and stage mannerisms.
[RELATED: Watch Bruce Springsteen Praise Cast, Give Surprise Acoustic Performance at NYC Screening of New Biopic, Deliver Me from Nowhere]
The scene, which you can watch at 20th Century Studios’ YouTube channel, also features actors depicting guitarist Steven Van Zandt, sax player Clarence Clemons, drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, and keyboardists Danny Federici and Roy Bittan. Johnny Cannizzaro portrays Van Zandt.
The clip identifies the performance at taking place at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati in 1981. Springsteen and the E Street Band wrapped up their tour in support of Bruce’s 1979 album The River at the venue in September 1981.
After finishing the trek, Springsteen began recording Nebraska, the stripped-down acoustic follow-up to The River, in December of ’81. As previously reported, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere focuses on the making of Nebraska and the challenges Bruce faced getting his record label to agree to release the project.
The movie gets its wide theatrical release on October 24.
Springsteen Appears in a New Making-Of Featurette About the Film
Meanwhile, a new video clip about the making of Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere also has been posted on 20th Century Studios’ YouTube channel. The featurette includes comments from Springsteen, Jeremy Allen White, and director/co-writer Scott Cooper.
Bruce shares praise for White’s portrayal and Cooper’s work as a filmmaker.
“Jeremy, he just did a beautiful job,” Springsteen said. “As Scott Cooper says, he had the swagger of a rock star. And the camera read his internal life. That was really essential. And Scott is an amazing director. It was really magnificent to watch them bring that to the screen.
White, meanwhile, talked about the challenge of playing the iconic rocker.
“Bruce Springsteen. I mean, he’s a legend,” the actor noted. “And so, taking on the role, I think there was a big leap of faith. Everybody has their own idea of Bruce Springsteen. And you want to honor all that, but you also want to find your own understanding.”
Regarding the movie, White added, “I hope people come away with the same thing people come away from his music with… which is hope.”
As for Cooper, he explained what he hoped to achieve in telling a story about that episode in Bruce’s life and career.
“When I decided to make this film, I didn’t want to make your standard musical biopic of Bruce Springsteen’s life,” he maintained. “Rather, this is a deeply intimate and honest look at a very specific time in his life, when he was writing and recording the album Nebraska.”
(Courtesy of 20th Century Studios)
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