Bruce Springsteen is a legendary artist an an American icon to say the least, so it was only a matter of time before he got the musical artist biopic treatment and treatment he gets with Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Ahead of the film’s release later this month, we at OTN were lucky enough to attend a press conference for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere with writer-director Scott Cooper, as well as lead actors Jeremy Allen White. Here are the 4 biggest takeaways we got from the Deliver Me From Nowhere press conference.

1. Filming in Bruce’s hometown state of New Jersey

Bruce Springsteen has always been passionate about where he came from and the people he grew up with. Scott Cooper honoured that perfectly when setting production in New Jersey. When asked about filming in the home state of the Boss, actor Jeremy Allen White was very candid about the surrealism of it all, saying “ It all felt very sacred. l know the history of the rooms and town and for Bruce to have witnessed it all. it was great responsibility to tell this. Not just portraying a real person, but moments that happened… air that was breathed… moments that are real. There was something very fragile and delicate for me in performing some of these moments, especially in Colt’s Neck, the recording process, and Bruce’s moments alone. There was a lot of fragility in him as well, for both of us. There’s a real softness in trying to recapture these moments.”

2. Scott Cooper on having The Boss be the literal boss

When making a musical biopic, its not often that the artist is so involved in the final product, but this all changed with Scott Cooper and Bruce Springsteen. When asked about honouring Bruce and how open he was to collaboration, Cooper called the task “daunting” but had nothing but praise for Springsteen. Cooper said “Bruce was so giving, so open and checked-in frequently. I never wanted to make a film only about Bruce Springsteen, I wanted to make a film about a man who happens to be Bruce Springsteen. The film really touches upon his unresolved trauma and Bruce was so open to it, telling me things he’s never told anyone, things he’s never disclosed. It felt like a great bill of honour and love from Bruce. Aside from the film, he showed me such generosity that goes well beyond friendship. I’m so grateful for the permission to have such an honest piece of work. This entire collaboration from Bruce to these guys, to the crew was one of highlights of my life.”

3. Jeremy Allen-White and Jeremy Strong on forming a pseudo-father-son relationship

The relationship between Bruce Springsteen and Jon Landau is extremely fascinating. Landau, who was a music critic at the time, wrote about Springsteen at a 1974 concert and called him the future of rock n’ roll. After Springsteen met him, the two became inseparable, with Landau serving as his manager for over 40 years now. The relationship is one of the most enduring in the music industry and is the heart and sole of Deliver Me From Nowhere. When asked about crafting this relationship, Jeremy Strong, who plays Landau, said, “I understand the dynamic between them existed in the early days with their arms around each other and smiles on their faces. I could feel that love, connection, and bond. I think in terms of planning how to do that, you don’t think about the camera being there. You just enter into something and the rest comes out, so we didn’t have to talk about that or do anything. It’s just there.”

White furthered onto this point, saying “We didn’t need to talk about it before. It was clear in the book [which the movie is based upon], and the script. There was trust that we’d been in our own corners, understanding what we needed to understand, that when we came together, the love, loyalty, responsibility to one another was important, but that came out naturally.”

4. Scott Cooper on the film’s themes and audience takeaways

This movie clearly means a lot to writer-director Scott Cooper. Aside from the pressure of portraying a music icon, The film also has a lot of heavy themes from Springsteen’s childhood and his later life. Talking about these themes, Cooper said “I always endeavoured to explore themes that are somewhat more difficult. Addiction. Racism. Mental health and illness. Reconnection with family estrangement. All these are things we are grappling with and I like to think intellectually about things. What I’m most concerned with is emotion, how they’re gonna feel and relate. I want to make a film that I would want to see on a Friday night and two, a film the audience can see themselves in.”

Cooper then went on to talk about the takeaways and the personal emotions tied to this movie, saying “What is heartening is the power of cinema. When some people approach you on the street and say ‘Thank you, Scott. Thank you for showing us that two estranged men can come together… my father never told me he loved me, he never told me he was proud of me… my son suffers form mental illness…. I hope he can see this film.’”. If early reviews are any indication, then Cooper has achieved his goal and mastered the power of cinema.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere releases in theatres on Friday, October 24. Are you excited? Let us know!