Jeremy Allen White admits mental health themes in Bruce Springsteen biopic are “very familiar to me”
In a new interview, Jeremy Allen White has said the mental health issues explored in Bruce Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere are “very familiar to me”.
Springsteen has been open over the years while discussing his lifelong battle with depression, which is also touched upon in the upcoming biopic that stars White.
The upcoming biopic, set for release in cinemas on October 24th, is based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 book of the same name. Deliver Me From Nowhere tells the story of how Springsteen hibernated in isolation to produce his 1982 masterpiece, Nebraska, while grappling emotionally with his position on the brink of superstardom.
Now, in a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning, White has opened up about the mental health challenges that he has faced and how he resonated with Springsteen’s story.
He reflected upon one conversation he had with ‘The Boss’, revealing, ”I asked him, what’s that panic about? You know, what is that fear inside of you? And he said, ‘I had this moment where I felt like an outsider and observer in my own life.'”
White was then asked by the interviewer, “Have you ever struggled with mental illness yourself?,” in response, he shared, “Yeah, of course.”
The Bear star elaborated, “When he told me about that, that feeling of being an observer of your own life, that was very familiar to me. I remember when I found acting, there was a lot of like, I think like, chaos and confusion, just a lot going on. I couldn’t focus on myself. And I found acting, and I found some peace and I found some focus.”
Elsewhere in the interview, White said of the dedication he put into his performance, sharing, “If you’re gonna do one thing to get it right, you have to perform to the point of exhaustion. ‘Cause he continues until he cannot go any longer.”
In a recent joint interview alongside White on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Springsteen praised the blood, sweat and tears that was put in to telling his story, saying, “He approached the part really in his own way, and I think one of the choices he made was it is not imitated, he caught the psychological aspect of the character and it’s a performance that comes from the inside out.”
The ‘Born in the USA’ singer then deemed it a “very intuitive performance, and that’s what makes the whole film work.”
Bruce Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is set for release on October 24th.
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