He's paying the cost to be the Boss

'Deliver Me From Nowhere' examines how Springsteen created 'Nebraska.'

- KATIE WALSH

JEREMY Allen White brings an intense soulfulness to the rocker role.

MACALL POLAY 20th Century Studios

Writer-director Scott Cooper doesn't want to make a music biopic. At least not the kind of music biopic you expect.

Instead, in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” he offers a character study as biopic, riding a similar groove as his Oscar-winning 2009 directorial debut “Crazy Heart.”

“Deliver Me From Nowhere” doesn’t try to tell the entire life story of New Jersey’s beloved rock bard, Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen — in fact, it doesn’t even really cover his biggest hits. Instead, “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” which Cooper based on the 2023 Warren Zanes book of the same name, focuses on a contemplative period in Springsteen's life and career, a time when the musician dug deep to exorcise his own demons, producing the songs for his 1982 acoustic album “Nebraska.”

"The Bear" star Jeremy Allen White hunches into leather jackets and flannels, dark curls coquettishly kissing his brow, in order to embody Springsteen on screen.

As with most musical biopics these days, the audience has to enter into an agreement with the film, suspending disbelief. Does White disappear into the role? Does he look exactly like Springsteen? No. But he's the symbol of Springsteen here, and he captures the star's flinty gaze and rock 'n' roll rasp while performing the songs, bringing his own intense soulfulness to the role.