Springsteen wanted a 'Scott Cooper movie'

Director says he and the Boss share an interest in American myth meeting reality

- BY PAMELA CHELIN

MATT INFANTE 20th Century Studios

FILMMAKER Scott Cooper, left, works with star Jeremy Allen White on the set of "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere."

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” kicked off AFI Fest last week with all the hoopla befitting a film about one of America’s most iconic artists.

Throngs of autograph-seeking fans gathered near the TCL Chinese Theatre as spotlights illuminated the red carpet arrivals of the film’s director and screenwriter, Scott Cooper, alongside Bruce Springsteen and star Jeremy Allen White, who portrays him in the biopic.

Yet the premiere was also steeped in irony: a night of Hollywood glamour devoted to a movie about the making of “Nebraska,” the stark, home-recorded album Springsteen released in 1982 without any fanfare — no singles, no press and no tour.

If anyone understands that juxtaposition, it's Cooper. “Springsteen wasn't seeking fame or absolution,” the 55-year-old filmmaker says over Zoom. “In fact, he’s turning away from that and just trying to understand himself, like most of my characters who are trying to reclaim a piece of their humanity. He finds salvation through honesty.”

Cooper has built a career out of these pursuits of raw truth. That motif originated with his 2009 directorial debut, “Crazy Heart,” starring Jeff Bridges as a faded country music legend caught in the throes of alcoholism and trying to find a way forward. Its emotional honesty landed Bridges an Oscar.

“I'm always interested in exploring men at their breaking points, when silence no longer protects them,” Cooper says. "Most of my films circle back to broken men searching for grace, not through victory but through endurance.”