Will Jeremy Allen White play Bruce Springsteen in ‘Nebraska’-Era Biopic?

Crazy Heart filmmaker Scott Cooper is attached to write and direct the adaptation of Warren Zanes’ 2023 book, Deliver Me From Nowhere

A Bruce Springsteen movie centered around the making of his classic 1982 album, Nebraska, is officially in the works, with The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White reportedly “in talks” to star.

Deliver Me From Nowhere will be based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 book of the same name, and both Springsteen and his manager Jon Landau will be involved in the making of the film. As for White, 20th Century Studios and Disney essentially confirmed the rumors reported in the Hollywood trades last week that he was being eyed to play Springsteen, but the casting is not yet 100 percent official. 

Scott Cooper is set to write and direct Deliver Me From Nowhere. The project will find the filmmaker returning to a story about a musician for the first time since his celebrated 2009 debut, Crazy Heart, in which Jeff Bridges played a floundering former country star looking to turn his life back around. (The movie was based on Thomas Cobb’s 1987 novel of the same name, with the main character Otis “Bad” Blake loosely modeled on country star Hank Thompson.)

“I once read that Nebraska is an album that moves you to the marrow of your bones. I couldn’t agree more,” Cooper said in a statement. “Bruce Springsteen, and Nebraska, in particular, have had a profound impact on me and my work. Through themes of despair, disillusionment, and the struggles of everyday Americans, Bruce has formed an unparalleled legacy, painting an unflinching portrait of the human condition. Yet, amidst the darkness, a sense of resilience and a sense of hope shines through, reflecting an indomitable spirit. That’s the Bruce I’ve come to know and love and will honor with this film.”

Praising Zanes’ book and his depiction of “this chapter in Bruce’s life,” Cooper added: “This film has the potential to be a transformative cinematic experience, offering audiences a window into the soul of Bruce Springsteen and the universal truths that bind us all together.”

Landau similarly celebrated Deliver Me From Nowhere, calling it “one of the best books ever written” about Springsteen. And he heralded Cooper’s involvement in the film adaptation, calling him “the perfect filmmaker for the job.” 

Nebraska looms large in Springsteen’s lore, as both a timeless masterpiece and a marker of one of the most difficult moments in the musician’s life. Famously, Springsteen recorded the album at a rented lake house in New Jersey following the wild success of 1980’s The River; these tracks were actually meant to be demos, but after some sessions with the E Street Band, Springsteen and Landau agreed that the spare originals were the definitive versions. 

In a 2023 interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Springsteen said, in the wake of The River, he “hit some sort of personal wall that I didn’t even know was there.” He continued: “It was my first real major depression where I realized, ‘Oh, I gotta do something about it.’” 

Springsteen went on to call Nebraska a “happy accident,” saying: “I had planned to just write some good songs, take it to the band, go in the studio and record it. But every time I tried to improve on the tape that I made in that little room, it was the old story of ‘If this gets any better, it’s gonna get worse.’”

Source: RollingStone