Bruce Springsteen’s Secret Side

A NEW BIOPIC PULLS BACK THE CURTAIN ON A DARK PERIOD OF THE BOSS’S LIFE AND SERVES UP THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR JEREMY ALLEN WHITE SINCE HE BROKE OUT ON THE BEAR

- TOMMY MCARDLE

BEHIND THE MYTH "People have such an idea of Bruce Springsteen already," says White (here, in the film). "We're telling a very different story." Opposite: Springsteen in 1979.

When most people hear Bruce Springsteen’s name, they likely think of at least a few things: his nickname, the Boss; his beloved home state, New Jersey; and hits like “Born to Run” and “Dancing in the Dark.” The 76-year-old rock star is, as Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere writer and director Scott Cooper says, “the soul of America.”

But the man who wrote seismic anthems like “Born in the USA” also offers a tender, more vulnerable side to his signature storytelling. That’s the facet of the artist that Cooper, 55, explores in his new biopic, starring The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White. Set in 1981 and 1982—“a very personal moment in my life,” Springsteen has said—the film zeroes in on a burned-out young Springsteen grappling with depression and holing up at a rented farmhouse in the Garden State after touring for his hit 1980 album The River. Seeking a more stripped-down sound (a major departure from his first five studio albums), Springsteen wrote and recorded songs like “Atlantic City” and “Johnny 99” using just a harmonica and acoustic guitar, forming what ultimately became his dark and daring album Nebraska.