Springsteen Biopic Focuses on Pivotal Era Before Superstardom

“Deliver Me from Nowhere,” a hauntingly intimate portrait of the rock icon Bruce Springsteen at a creative and emotional crossroads in the early ’80s premiered at the 63rd New York Film Festival, and if you missed it there, it is scheduled to begin wide theatrical release on Oct. 23.

The biopic is not a life story in the traditional sense. Instead, it offers rare insights of a performer in his early 30s struggling artistically and emotionally after he had already released a half dozen albums but whose greatest hit to that point, “Born to Run,” had been released six years earlier.

The 119-minute drama, directed by Scott Cooper and released by 20th Century Studios, centers on the period when Springsteen retreated from fame to write and record what would become his stark, acoustic masterpiece, “Nebraska.” Drawing from Warren Zanes’s best-selling biography of the same name, the film eschews traditional biopic tropes in favor of a meditative character study. Its emotional climax, however, belongs not to the artist himself—but to the business manager who stands up to Columbia Records and refuses to compromise Springsteen’s vision.

In a scene that earned audible gasps and scattered applause from the New York audience at a screening on Sept. 30, Jon Landau (played by Jeremy Strong) confronts a skeptical record executive pushing for the release of “Born in the USA.” instead of “Nebraska,” which was a meditive sometimes darker tone without the E Street Band.

Earlier in his career, Springsteen had two albums that were disappointing and was on the verge of being dropped by Columbia when he released the mega-hit album “Born to Run” in 1975. By the time Springsteen was working on “Nebraska” several years later, the recording studio had already heard the soundtrack for “Born in the USA” and wanted another mega-hit. Albums But Springsteen wanted the darker “Nebraska” out first. After breakout hit “Born to Run” in 1976, he had several other strong album released with the E Street Band with “Darkness on the Edge of Town” in 1978 and “The River” in 1980.

Columbia Records was pushing “Born in the USA” release. Landay said no. “There will be no singles, no tour, no press,” Landau says flatly. “We believe in Bruce Springsteen. And this is my office.” The moment—a quiet triumph of artistic integrity over commercial pressure—landed with rare force.

“It was absolutely the most emotionally stirring moment of the film,” one attendee at the screening noted. “Business standing up for art. You could feel the whole room shift.”

Springsteen, played with aching restraint by Jeremy Allen White, is portrayed not as a mythic rock god but as a man burdened by childhood trauma and a deep need for emotional integrity. From his mid-century lakeside retreat, where he records four-track demos on a TEAC recorder, to his tender scenes with his love interest, a single mother with a young daughter, the film portrays Springsteen as thoughtful, grounded, and focused—not debauched or self-destructive like so many rock legends.

“He’s haunted by unresolved trauma,” said director Scott Cooper during the post-screening Q&A. “And it’s a movie about memory, myth, and regret.” Cooper, who previously turned down opportunities to direct a film about Elvis Presley, said he only became interested when producers approached him about “Nebraska.” “I told Bruce, I don’t see the merits of a cradle-to-grave biopic. I want to make a psychological drama about the art of creation.”

That approach earned Springsteen’s blessing. “He exceeded every expectation,” said Cooper, recalling a meeting at the musician’s home in New Jersey with Landau and author Warren Zanes. “He was graceful, humble, and incredibly supportive.”

Jeremy Allen White, best known for his Emmy-winning role in “The Bear,” said the pressure of portraying such a beloved figure was at first paralyzing. “I didn’t want to get in the way of anyone’s personal connection to Bruce,” he said. “But I found my way in—I focused on this man in 1981 trying to make a record.”

The film is rich in period detail, from the Dodge Challenger and Z-28 muscle cars to plaid flannels, stonewashed jeans, and scenes in diners. Springsteen’s recording process is shown with reverence, as he obsesses over raw acoustic takes in an effort to preserve their intimacy.

“We have to get that one right,” he says while laying down the title track “Nebraska,” based on the story of mass killer Charles Starkweather—a narrative reportedly inspired by the 1973 film “Badlands,” and later reinforced by a scene from “The Night of the Hunter,” which Springsteen watches with his alcoholic father.

Springsteen’s family trauma is central to the film’s emotional core. In flashbacks, a young Bruce is sent into a smoky bar to retrieve his drunken father—a moment shot from a child’s perspective, underscoring the fear and shame of growing up with an alcoholic parent. Yet as an adult, he approaches his father with compassion, not contempt.

The post-screening Q&A touched repeatedly on the film’s commitment to emotional truth. Cooper emphasized that White was never asked to mimic Springsteen but rather to inhabit the spirit of his artistry. “This wasn’t about imitation,” said Cooper. “It was about someone who could embody the quiet intensity Bruce brings to his work.”

White performed all the music in the film himself. “Bruce listened to one of the early recordings and said, ‘You don’t sound just like me— but you sound like me,’” White recalled. “He gave me permission to make the songs my own.”

The audience at Alice Tully Hall reflected Springsteen’s broad, multigenerational appeal—from gray-haired boomers to Zoomers. But the most enduring takeaway wasn’t generational nostalgia. It was the message, echoed in the Q&A, that artists need advocates who will guard their solitude and protect their vision.

“It’s incredibly rare to see a film where a businessperson defends an artist so fiercely,” said one audience member. “You don’t see that in the industry often enough. That moment really mattered.”

Eric Schwartzman is a journalist, author, and New York marketing consultant.