Jeremy Allen White says his Bruce Springsteen prep has involved a lot of YouTube rabbit holes — with some advice from the real-life rockstar peppered in.
White will play Springsteen in 20th Century and Disney’s Deliver Me From Nowhere. News of the movie’s production picked up earlier this spring, and The Bear star is now deep in preparation for the legendary role.
“I’m really lucky that there’s sort of a team of folks now in place to help young actors portray rock stars,” White told GQ. “I’ve got a really talented group of people helping me train vocally, musically, to get ready for this thing.”
In recent years, Austin Butler portrayed Elvis in Elvis, Rami Malek played Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Naomi Ackie played Whitney Houston in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Kingsley Ben-Adir played Bob Marley in Bob Marley: One Love. Still upcoming, Timothee Chalamet will play Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown and Jafaar Jackson will portray his uncle, Michael Jackson, in Michael. White now joins the group in Deliver Me From Nowhere.
The actor said that real-life Springsteen is “really supportive of the project,” meaning “I’ve had some access to him and he’s just the greatest guy.”
Beyond that, there’s plenty of other ways to research. “There’s just so much footage,” White said. “It’s really great to go down a YouTube rabbit hole and find him at all these different periods in his life and be able to listen to his speaking voice as well as his singing voice. That’s kind of been the deal, just listening to him a lot and watching him a lot. It’s been really fun preparing.”
Deliver Me From Nowhere explores the making of Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska, which followed the singer-songwriter’s huge The River album. The album has the trademark blue-collar vibe of many other Springsteen albums, but was also full of bleak and hopeless themes, accompanied by a sparse instruments. Scott Cooper will direct the film, and said in April that the record “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,” Cooper said. “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.”
The movie doesn’t yet have a release date.
