Jeremy Allen White prepares for Bruce Springsteen biopic with direct insights from 'the boss'

Jeremy Allen White, star of "The Bear," has revealed that he has been in direct contact with Bruce Springsteen in preparation for his role in the forthcoming biopic "Deliver Me From Nowhere." 

The 33-year-old actor will portray the legendary "Born in the USA" singer in the film, which chronicles Springsteen’s life and career during the recording of his sixth studio album, "Nebraska," in 1982. 

The movie is based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 nonfiction book, "Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska."

White, who will sing tracks from the "Nebraska" album in the film, shared that he has been texting and emailing Springsteen to prepare for the role. 

Speaking to Variety, the "Shameless" actor said Springsteen messages “like a boss,” referencing the singer’s long-term nickname derived from his practice of handing out people’s pay after shows.

While White did not disclose the details of their conversations, he did reveal that they had been in contact ahead of Springsteen’s Wembley show in London on July 27, where he hoped to meet the musician in person. 

Their communications have been growing since White was cast in "Deliver Me From Nowhere." 

In June, White told Variety that they had only spoken “through some other people,” but he hoped everything would come together.

White expressed his excitement about the project, stating, “We’ve still got a few things, we’ve got some timing stuff to work out, and I’m trying to have a bit of my own process with it before meeting the man, too.” 

Back in 2019, Springsteen, who has not publicly addressed White’s casting, expressed hesitancy over a film about his life, telling IndieWire, “It’s kind of something I’ve just held off on because so few of them are successful. Finding someone to play yourself is really weird.”

This news comes after Springsteen reportedly joined an exclusive list of music artists worth over a billion dollars as of 2024, including Jay-Z ($2.5bn), Rihanna ($1.4bn), and Taylor Swift ($1.1bn). 

In 2021, Springsteen sold his music catalogue to Sony for an estimated $500-$550 million, making history as the largest transaction ever struck for a single artist’s body of work.

Reflecting on his songwriting process in a 2009 interview with The Guardian, Springsteen recalled, “All the music I loved as a child, people thought it was junk. People were unaware of the subtext in so many of those records but if you were a kid you were just completely tuned in, even though you didn’t always say – you wouldn’t dare say it was beautiful. And those records, some of them sustained their beauty. If you listen to the great Beatle records, the earliest ones where the lyrics are incredibly simple. Why are they still beautiful? Well, they’re beautifully sung, beautifully played, and the mathematics in them is elegant.”