Bruce Springsteen Reflects on ‘Painful Days’ Depicted in Biopic

Bruce Springsteen is opening up about his upcoming biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the 75-year-old rock icon shared his thoughts on director Scott Cooper’s upcoming film, which is set to hit theaters on Oct. 24.

Though Springsteen’s touring schedule limited his time on set, he said The Bear actor Jeremy Allen White and the crew were gracious during his visits.

“Jeremy Allen White was very, very tolerant of me the days that I would appear on the set,” Springsteen told the publication. “I said to him, ‘Look, anytime I’m in the way, just give me the look and I’m on my way home.’ So the days that I got out there, he was wonderfully tolerant with me being there. And it was just fun. It was enjoyable.”

Still, The Boss admitted that he avoided being present for certain emotionally intense moments during filming.

“I mean, there’s some unusualness to it because the movie involves, in some ways, some of the most painful days of my life,” he said. “If there was a scene coming up that was sometimes really deeply personal, I wanted the actors to feel completely free, and I didn’t want to get in the way, and so I would just stay at home.”

Deliver Me From Nowhere is based on Warren Zanes’ book of the same name and chronicles the making of Springsteen’s 1982 acoustic album, Nebraska.

The film features Allen as Springsteen, Jeremy Strong as longtime manager Jon Landau, Stephen Graham as the musician’s father, Odessa Young as his girlfriend, Gaby Hoffmann as his mother, Marc Maron as producer Chuck Plotkin, and David Krumholtz as a Columbia Records executive.

Earlier this year, Springsteen told SiriusXM’s E Street Radio that seeing White play him on screen took some getting used to.

“A little bit at first, but you get over that pretty quick and Jeremy is such a terrific actor that you just fall right into it,” he said. “He’s got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply recognize and he’s just done a great job, so I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of fun being on the set when I can get there.”

For his part, White has said he spent hours studying video footage and worked closely with a vocal coach to capture Springsteen’s unique voice and cadence.