The Boss has spoken.
During a surprise appearance at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival over the weekend, Bruce Springsteen opened up about his new biopic, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” and why he gave this project the green light after nearly 50 years of superstardom.
The film, directed by Scott Cooper and starring Jeremy Allen White as the Boss himself, premiered at the annual Colorado film festival on Friday, Aug. 29.
“What brought this one along was that I think we had a very specific idea – Scott had a very specific idea, particularly, of what we were gonna attempt to do,” Springsteen, 75, began, per Variety.
However, the “Glory Days” singer quickly explained why “Deliver Me From Nowhere” is not your typical biopic.
“And, for lack of a better word, it was an anti-biopic,” he continued. “You know, it’s really not a biopic – it just takes a couple years out of my life when I was 31 and 32 and looks at them really at a time when I made this particular record, and when I went through some just difficult places in my life, you know.”
“And, I’m old and I don’t give a f–k what I do now,” the “Dancing in the Dark” rocker added.
“Deliver Me From Nowhere,” which hits theaters Oct. 24 and currently has a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, chronicles Springsteen’s life during the making of his 1982 album, “Nebraska.”
The project was first announced in March 2024, and White’s role was confirmed that October.
“Succession” star Jeremy Strong also stars in the film as Jon Landau, Springsteen’s longtime manager.
White, 34, opened up about the monumental challenge of portraying the “Born to Run” legend and how he was able to pull it off despite having no experience as a rocker before signing on.
“When Scott and I were talking about the possibility of me doing this, I remember telling you, ‘I don’t know how to sing and I don’t know how to play the guitar,’” he said regarding a conversation with the movie’s director. “But he was sure.”
“I had five, six months to get ready, and I had a great team of people to help me get there,” White continued. “We found it over time, and when I recorded the majority of the album ‘Nebraska’ in Nashville at RCA, that was a breakthrough for me.”
“I think I found a lot of confidence in those sessions, which were about a weekend,” the “Bear” star added.
Cooper, meanwhile, insisted that White had “an intensity of vulnerability and authenticity that I saw in Bruce’s work and in archival interviews with Bruce.”
“Jeremy has two things that really, for me, make up Bruce Springsteen, and one is humility,” the “Crazy Heart” director said during the festival. “And the other is swagger.”
“That’s half-right,” Springsteen joked in response.
Elsewhere during the panel, White recalled recording Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” all afternoon and how, after finishing up for the day, he received the Boss’ stamp of approval.
“I didn’t know how Bruce was still performing this song, or ever performed this song, never mind with two and a half, three hours more of music,” the “Shameless” star remembered.
“And I saw Bruce that evening after I recorded the song, and he said, ‘What’d you do today?’” White continued. “I said, ‘I recorded Born in the USA.’ He said, ‘Sounds about right. You sound exactly like me.’”
Following the Telluride Film Festival, “Deliver Me From Nowhere” will premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 28.
Besides White as Springsteen and Strong as Landau, the cast is rounded out by Paul Walter Hauser (Mike Batlan), Stephen Graham (Douglas Springsteen), Odessa Young (Faye Romano), Gaby Hoffmann (Adele Springsteen) and Marc Maron (Chuck Plotkin).
