The only time Bruce Springsteen ever played a fictional character: “It’s more fun when it’s over”
Unlike many musicians who reach a stratospheric level of fame, Bruce Springsteen has never had much interest in attempting to transition into acting. Over the years, countless pop and rock superstars have stepped before Hollywood’s cameras, from Frank Sinatra to Jon Bon Jovi to Madonna to Cher to David Bowie to Lady Gaga. However, Springsteen’s forays into acting have been extremely brief, amounting to two glorified cameos as himself and one episode of television in which he actually played a fictional character. Thankfully for The Boss, that episode was directed by his bandmate and friend ‘Little’ Steven Van Zandt, whose acting experience includes the greatest TV show ever made.
Springsteen first dabbled in acting in 2000 when he made a cameo in High Fidelity. With guitar in hand, he played a version of himself imparting some worldly wisdom on life and love to record store owner John Cusack. It was a fun little scene, and Springsteen came across quite naturally, so fans may have wondered if the acting bug had bitten him. That couldn’t have been further from the truth, though, and it would take another 14 years for The Boss to dabble in acting again.
In truth, perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising that Springsteen didn’t have the ambition to follow his fellow musical luminaries into Hollywood. After all, the guy was reticent to even make music videos that weren’t simply comprised of live footage. By the time he finally shot some scenes for the ‘I’m On Fire’ and ‘Glory Days’ videos during the Born in the USA album cycle, it was headline news in the music world.
In the end, it took Van Zandt, Springsteen’s pal and trusted bandmate for five decades, to convince him to stretch his acting muscles. After all, as ‘Little’ Steven no doubt pointed out to The Boss, acting had turned out pretty well for him.
You see, when Van Zandt inducted The Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, he gave a memorable speech in which he inhabited several different roles. A screenwriter named David Chase was so impressed by Van Zandt’s character work in the speech that he was convinced he could be an actor. So, when he wrote the script for a gangster drama he was developing with HBO, he included the part of pompadoured nightclub owner Silvio Dante specifically for him. That script was, of course, called The Sopranos. Maybe you’ve heard of it.
Van Zandt wound up taking to acting like a duck to water – although he admitted to having his reservations. “As musicians, we’re used to controlling our own destinies, artistically anyway,” the bandana-wearing guitarist told The Independent Premium. “You sing a song, you come into the control room, you say, ‘I think I could do a better job,’ and you go and try it again.” By contrast, it boggled his mind that, in acting, “The director – who’s never seen you before in his life – decides whether you just did the right job or not. And you’re gonna see it six months later.”
Ultimately, despite growing to love it, Van Zandt dubbed acting a “freaky sort of way to make a living,” and perhaps that was how Springsteen felt, too. However, when Van Zandt asked his buddy in 2014 if he wanted to play his brother in an episode of Lilyhammer – the Netflix gangster comedy he made after The Sopranos – he was charmed to find out The Boss was amenable to the idea. “I know we’re friends for 50 years, but still, it meant a lot to me that he chose me and trusted me enough to direct him when literally everybody on earth’s been wanting to do it,” Van Zandt told Billboard.
In the end, Van Zandt was happy with Springsteen’s work as the character of Giuseppe, not least because, “He’s really acting. It’s not some cameo. He’s not playing himself. It’s a real thing.” Amusingly, though, he hinted that the process might not have been entirely painless when he chuckled, “Was it fun? Yeah, but it’s more fun when it’s over. It’s fun now.”
Given this quote, perhaps it’s unsurprising that Springsteen was once again resolutely unbitten by the acting bug – and has only added another (hilarious) cameo as himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm since.
