Could Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere Deliver The Boss to a New Generation?

I once heard that the music you listen to in high school is the music you listen to for the rest of your life, give or take some new discoveries. The music of my high school years was Bruce Springsteen. I vividly remember sitting at the computer desk in the basement of my childhood home and hearing “Thunder Road” for the first time. The way that harmonica starts things off before Bruce builds you to the wild, runaway crescendo of the ending is somewhat of a miracle to experience every time. Since word of a Bruce biopic made the rounds, I’ve been anxiously awaiting a first look. Finally, 20th Century Studios has given us the official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.

While not explained in the Deliver Me From Nowhere trailer to newcomers, the film follows Bruce (Jeremy Allen White) as he records his sixth studio album, Nebraska. Unlike his previous bombastic albums, Nebraska is Bruce in his childhood bedroom with an acoustic guitar and a tape recorder. His plan was to re-record the songs with the full back of the E Street Band, but decided the stripped down versions of these songs better got to the heart of what he wanted to accomplish. Nebraska became a seminal album for Bruce and remains a fascinating turning point for him as an artist. It’s no wonder this time in Bruce’s life was chosen for the film. Bruce was very involved in the production of the film and Crazy Heart writer/director Scott Cooper (The Pale Blue Eye) adapted his screenplay from Warren Zanes’ “Deliver Me from Nowhere” which featured interviews with Bruce.

It’s surely not shocking that I’m coming into Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere with a bit of skepticism. There’s the baseline amount of concern that comes with any biopic because the genre is so difficult to land. Deliver Me from Nowhere seems to solve the usual problem of spanning too many years of a subject’s life by limiting itself to Bruce’s production of Nebraska. Still, though, it remains unclear who Deliver Me from Nowhere is for. Is it for the longtime fans who have already read his memoir where he wrote extensively about this period? Or is it for newcomers to be introduced to a man whose legacy is far greater than himself?

One of my favorite parts about Bruce is his willingness to delve into the ugly parts of his life. To talk about his depression, mistakes, loss, and sadness. Often, biopics like to sugarcoat the people they are celebrating, but Bruce has seemingly never had that inclination. In last year’s Road Diary, essentially a concert tour film, he talks about how mortality is always at the forefront of his mind. How he’s losing more close friends and he wonders when his time will come. In 2017, Bruce had a one-man show on Broadway, aptly titled Springsteen on Broadway, that was also filmed for Netflix. It’s a three-hour show where he tells stories and plays songs from his mammoth catalog, some of which come from Nebraska. In the show, it’s his vulnerability that shines through. He talks about the tenuous relationship he had with his father, how he emulated and feared him, simply craving an “I love you” that would never come. The working man persona Bruce is so known for doesn’t come from Bruce himself. In the Broadway show, he jokes that he’s never worked five days a week until that show. The factory man’s uniform comes from his father, an homage to a man Bruce would never fully understand.

On “Thunder Road,” Bruce sings, “Show a little faith / there’s magic in the night.” From this trailer, it does seem like there’s some magic within in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. Jeremy Allen White’s singing voice sounds like a blend of Jeremy and Bruce in a way that’s convincing. Odessa Young stars as Faye, a fictional girlfriend for Bruce, while Stephen Graham and Gabby Hoffman play Bruce’s parents. All of these actors have the ability to give such nuanced performances that Deliver Me from Nowhere may prove to have the kind of magic Bruce himself would sing about.

Directed and written by Scott Cooper and starring Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, and Paul Walter Hauser, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere will be in theaters on October 24, 2025