The result was 1982’s Nebraska, an acoustic gem released with no tour, press, or lead single. Bruce didn’t even want his face on the cover. Still, it reached number three on the Billboard chart, and is remembered by many as one of Springsteen’s finest records to date.
Alongside Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s manager, Jon Landau, and Stephen Graham as his abusive, domineering father, mostly seen through terrifying black-and-white flashbacks, Jeremy Allen White is a revelation as the publicly revered and privately tortured superstar. Sure, there’s more than a trace of Carmy’s neurosis in his Bruce—the reticent, haunted interiority, the simmering frustration, the overwhelming passion for his art, qualities also present in his recent embodiment of Kerry Von Erich in Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw—but this is also an entirely new creation. In several scenes, and especially in the electric, sweat-soaked musical performances, White seems to transform into Springsteen right in front of us. It’s in his movement, voice, mannerisms, and impassioned singing, which, if you close your eyes, sounds exactly, almost spookily like Bruce’s.
I meet Jeremy at Claridge’s, where the 34-year-old Brooklynite is hiding out while in town for the London Film Festival. Dressed in pale blue jeans, black boots, and a fuzzy dark blue cardigan, layered over an open blue-striped shirt and a white tank, with a gold chain glinting from his neck, he’s thoughtful, soft-spoken, and unfailingly polite, his bright blue eyes (hidden behind dark brown contacts in Springsteen) wandering dreamily as he searches for his answers.
Ahead of the film’s release in theaters on October 24, he discusses being persuaded to take the part by Bruce himself, the intense pressure of performing while the musician watched him on set, borrowing his clothes, the explosive Season 4 finale of The Bear, his upcoming part in The Social Network sequel, and the flowers he likes to keep around him while on the road.
Vogue: I know you had some reservations about taking this part, but both Scott Cooper and Bruce Springsteen himself persuaded you to do it?
Jeremy Allen White: I’d been a fan of Scott’s for such a long time, and he and I had gotten together a couple of months before I knew anything about this. We spoke about movies and actors—he’s had such amazing actors in all his previous films, and I had a lot of questions about Robert Duvall, Rory Cochrane, and Christian Bale. I thought, Maybe one day we’ll work together. Then Scott asked me to listen to Nebraska. It’d probably been 10 years since I last listened to it. I called him after, and he said he’d like me to play Bruce.
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