Bruce Springsteen shares his thoughts on having Adolescence actor Stephen Graham in his biopic

Bruce Springsteen's biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, will be out in movie theaters this coming October, and the rock icon has something to share about the movie and its cast ahead of the release. In his interview with The Times, published on Saturday, June 21, 2025, Springsteen revealed a part in the biopic that made him emotional.

While he was tight-lipped about any details of the project, he said this about watching Adolescence star Stephen Graham playing his father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, aka Dutch, in the biopic:

"[It was] a little otherworldly, and also quite touching."

It wasn't the first time the singer shared how impressed he was with Graham's portrayal of his dad. In the actor's appearance on Edith Bowman's Soundtracking podcast on March 24, 2025, he said that Bruce Springsteen sent him a text message after the biopic's filming wrapped up. He said that the rock icon told him about how he was moved by his portrayal of Dutch, saying:

"His text just said, 'Thank you so much. You know, my father passed away a while ago and I felt like I saw him today and thank you for giving me that memory."

Stephen Graham admitted that he was "crying" while reading the message, adding that he "couldn't ask for anything more."

Alongside Graham, The Bear star Jeremy Allen White will portray the younger version of Bruce Springsteen in the biopic. He does his own singing in the movie. Springsteen praised the actor back in January, saying that he "sings very well."

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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere plot explored

Deliver Me from Nowhere adapts Warren Zanes' 2023 book of the same name, which chronicles the making of Bruce Springsteen's 1982 album, Nebraska. The album has constantly been described as deeply personal and one of the rock icon's most acclaimed albums of all time.

While there is not much known about the movie except the timeline it's expected to feature, here's a description of its source material from Penguin Random House:

"Without Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen might not be who he is today. The natural follow-up to Springsteen's hugely successful album The River should have been the hit-packed Born in the U.S.A. But instead, in 1982, he came out with an album consisting of a series of dark songs he had recorded by himself, for himself."

The book's description also hinted at Nebraska being a reflection of Springsteen's troubled life and the start of a mental breakdown that the singer had never talked about until many years after the album was released. Bruce Springsteen talked a bit about the "deeply personal" aspects of his life being portrayed in the biopic.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, published on June 19, 2025, he also called Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere a "great project" despite the fact that it contains "some of the most painful parts" of his life. Bruce Springsteen also said that while he would visit the set when needed, sometimes he had to choose to stay away instead to give the actors a wide berth to do their thing. He said:

"If there was a scene coming up that was sometimes really deeply personal, I wanted the actors to feel completely free, and I didn't want to get in the way, so I would stay at home."

Scott Cooper wrote the script and is also the director of the movie. He will also be co-producing the Springsteen biopic with Zanes and Scott Stuber.

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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere will be out in movie theaters on October 24, 2025.

Edited by Kinette Sumadia