“The film portrays the soul of America”

Scott Cooper (Abingdon, 1970), trained as an actor at the Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute, has shown in his work as a filmmaker a great sensitivity towards tortured characters those whom art is capable of redeeming.

This was already in his debut film, Crazy Heart (2009), a film for which Jeff Bridges received the Oscar for best actor, playing the fictional country musician Bad Blake. After testing the criminal story in Black Mass (2015) or the terror in Antlers (2021), the director returns to a more intimate terrain in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.

The film, which adapts a book by Warren Zanesaddresses the New Jersey musician’s gestation of the minimalist folk album Nebraskawhile facing a spiritual and creative crisis. Jeremy Allen White, the star of the series The Bearbrings an appealing vulnerability to The Boss in the film.

The American filmmaker attends El Cultural to talk about a biopic musical that seeks to distance itself from films like Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018) o Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2023), focusing the story on a specific chapter in the life of the musicianthe one in which fame is about to destroy everything.

Ask. Why did you decide to focus on the creation of the album Nebraska when addressing the figure of Bruce Springsteen?

Answer. Nebraska It is an album that has enormous resonance in my life. I discovered it at a time when I was very vulnerable. I’ve always thought that if I ever filmed a biopic musical, I would focus on a specific, intimate moment. and the creation of Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen was a perfect episode.

Q. The script is based on the book by Warren Zanes. What fragments seemed essential to you and where did you feel the need to take artistic liberties?

R. What I loved about Warren’s book was his ability to capture the intimacy of Bruce Springsteen. It gave me a realistic view of what he was experiencing at that time. It’s true that most of what he describes is internal, and that was the beauty of the challenge. How do you turn the internal into a dramaturgy? Cinema and literature are very different.

»So the question for me was to give a greater breadth to the story. How do you give it movement, rhythm, conflict and propulsion? How do you make it work at different levels? The creation of Nebraska It’s a level. Then there was Springsteen’s unresolved trauma, or guilt over the fame he’s achieved, or his relationship with his longtime manager, John Landau (Jeremy Strong), who ultimately saves his life, or his inability to truly connect with women. Warren’s book was the seed of all this.

P. How involved was Bruce Springsteen himself in the project?

R. Well, Bruce got involved in the project exactly the way I wanted him to be involved. Watching videos and reading books, even Bruce’s own autobiography, takes you only so far in understanding. To truly understand your mental state, you have to go to the source. And he was always open to my questions.

»It was a gift that he was available while I was writing the script. After, came several times set during filming. But he never intended to give any guidance, I simply saw him enjoying being there, seeing his life recreated. It was a true privilege to have his presence.

P. How did you work with Jeremy Allen White to make his work believable without falling into imitation?

R. It was something we talked about a lot at the beginning. The idea was never to seek imitation. We had no idea if Jeremy could sing or play guitar and harmonica, and in fact he didn’t do any of these things. But he worked hard to achieve an acceptable level in each of these disciplines.

»He also studied countless hours of Springsteen videos from 81 and 82 and I think he has managed to represent him in a very complete way, but without seeming like an imitation. Looking at Jeremy’s work you get a sense of who Bruce is.

Q. The production design, camera work and sound seem to reflect the minimalist aesthetic of the album Nebraska.

R. Yes, I’m glad you noticed. I told the creative team and also Bruce that I was going to make the movie just like he had made Nebraska, in a minimalist way,without shine and without show. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere It’s not a rock musical with all the hits. It is a film about an intimate, calm and painful chapter in Bruce’s life.

»It would have been easier to address a more pop version of his career, But neither he nor I were interested in that. I hope that when audiences see the film, whether they are die-hard fans or casual fans, they have access to at least a small part of who Bruce Springsteen really is.

P. You have assured that the film has an important personal dimension for yourself. How has your connection to Springsteen’s music influenced your creative decisions?

R. In some ways, Bruce taught me what it means to be a storyteller. And it also led my gaze towards people who live on the margins of society, it showed me how to give a voice to those who do not have one. If you make a film about Bruce Springsteen, you are inevitably portraying the soul of america.

»It could be said that my films are very Americanwhich deal with very American themes, but at the same time I think they are universal issues, which also mean something in Spain, France or Italy.

P. What scene or moment in the movie are you most proud of?

R. I’m very proud of two scenes we shot on the same day. One appears in the first six minutes of the film and in it we see Jeremy playing Born to Run in front of thousands of people. And later, on the same day, we recorded the final scene in which she reconnects with her father in that cold, naked dressing room, when he asks her to sit on his lap.

»That day I had received the devastating news that my house was burning because of the fires in Los Angeles. The entire team, including Springsteen himself, encouraged me a lot and together we carried out all the work. So these scenes will always have personal meaning to me.

P. What experience do you want the audience to go through watching the film?

R. We all struggle with loneliness and despair. And if we cannot achieve mental well-being, we must seek help. Bruce Springsteen didn’t know how to get it, but in the end he got it and it saved his life.