For over half a century, fans of Bruce Springsteen have had an insight into the Boss – be it through his lyrics, packed with boardwalk tales and stories of working-class American desperation, or more literally in his autobiography, Born To Run, or his Broadway show, Springsteen On Broadway. But Scott Cooper’s not-exactly-a-biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere will bring even greater insight into Bruce – all through the lens of the creation of his most spare, intimate album, 1982’s acoustic Nebraska.
The sound of that album – dark, sombre, deeply powerful – is reflective of where Springsteen was at during its making, facing personal crisis as his celebrity started increasing. Cinematically, that makes for an unflinching journey – and the man himself was willing to go there. “[Bruce] said to me, ‘Scott, the truth about yourself isn’t always pretty,’” Cooper tells Empire. “We discussed that this was going to be a film so far removed from the mythology of the rock star. The thing that was most important to him was that this would be no hagiography.”
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As a result, get ready to learn more about Springsteen than ever before. “There’ll be things in this film that will be new information to even Bruce’s most ardent fans — not covered in his Broadway show, or in documentaries, or in his memoir,” promises Cooper. “And he never once asked me to sand off the rough edges. But would you expect anything else from Bruce Springsteen? This man who’s the reluctant moral conscience of America?” Prepare to venture into the darkness on the edge of town.