The first trailer has emerged from Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, a feature film chronicle of Bruce Springsteen making his classic 1982 album Nebraska. The Boss is portrayed by The Bear star Jeremy Allen White in a movie directed by Crazy Heart‘s Scott Cooper and based on Warren Zanes’ book of the same name. It will be released Oct. 24 by 20th Century Studios.
Succession‘s Jeremy Strong plays longtime Springsteen manager Jon Landau, while Paul Walter Hauser portrays guitar tech Mike Batlan, Sir Stephen Graham stars as Springsteen’s father Dutch and Marc Maron appears as producer Chuck Plotkin.
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While plotting out the ambitious, full-band Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen holed up in Colts Neck, N.J., with a four-track to cut some demos and decided to leave 10 of them untouched to comprise a separate, stark acoustic album. “Robert De Niro said once that what he likes about acting is that he gets to step into other people’s shoes without the real-life consequences,” Springsteen told SPIN in 2007 by way of reflecting on his headspace at the time. “Art does allow you to do that, to go right up to the abyss and look in, hopefully without falling in.”
This mentality is on display throughout the trailer, as Springsteen wrestles with how to retain his artistic integrity and heal childhood-era psychological wounds amid the increasing glare of post-The River stardom. “I’m trying to find something real in all the noise,” he tells Landau in the trailer, which is set to a portion of Nebraska‘s title track. “You always do,” Landau replies.
“Making Springsteen was deeply moving, as it allowed me to step inside the soul of an artist I’ve long admired — and to witness, up close, the vulnerability and strength behind his music,” said Cooper. “The experience felt like a journey through memory, myth and truth. And more than anything, it was a privilege to translate that raw emotional honesty to the screen, and in doing so, it changed me. I cannot thank Bruce and Jon Landau enough for allowing me to tell their story.”
On June 27, Springsteen will release Tracks II: The Lost Albums, containing seven complete projects that have been sitting in his vault for decades. Click here to read SPIN’s review.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
