Like a BOSS

HOW THE STAR OF THE BEAR TUNED IN TO PLAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN IN A NEW BIOPIC

- JEREMY ALLEN WHITE

Before he started playing brilliant, brooding chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in Disney+ series The Bear, Jeremy Allen White and his costar Ayo Edebiri took a crash course at the Institute of Culinary Education and trained in real restaurants across Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

“I was completely clueless in the kitchen before this show, and then I progressively got to kind of mediocre,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly in 2022. “I'd never studied a skill that much for any other job, and it was really great to have months of training to learn about character and learn about Carmy through a skill that he’d also studied.”

Then, to play real-life professional wrestler Kerry Von Erich in 2023's The Iron Claw, the actor prepared by gorging on waffles, almond butter, turkey patties and avocados, and lifting weights to pack on almost 20kg of muscle.

Tasked with playing Bruce Springsteen in biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere (in cinemas October 23), White, 34, spent months taking vocal and guitar lessons.

“I had not had a lot of experience, or any experience, singing or playing guitar, so that was daunting to say the least in the beginning,” White told host Marc Maron in an August episode of his WTF podcast.

However, White has admitted he gleaned the most research from clocking time with “The Boss” himself. Actors portraying real-life rock icons have become awards-season favourites in recent years, from Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury to Austin Butler’s Elvis and Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan (see breakout). Still, White chose not to reach out to his peers who have portrayed other music legends.

“I didn’t talk to Austin, I didn’t talk to Rami, I didn’t talk to Timothée,” he admitted to