Jeremy Allen White on the Responsibility and Hard Work Needed to Transform into The Boss in ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’ [VIDEO INTERVIEW]
Jeremy Allen White is a man in constant motion. He’s always moving, chasing, running, leaping, tapping along to the next thing. The man has slowly become one of the in-demand actors of his generation, slipping into characters with an ease that only the greats before him have been able to do. He’s a gentle soul, keeps to himself, respects the process, and in doing so, finds layers of humanity in every part he delivers on the big and small screen. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he’s the son of two actors, and naturally, the acting bug stuck with him as he performed in local theater work at a young age, even learning ballet, jazz, and tap dance. In 2006, he started to get roles on small television shows like Conviction and Law & Order, as well as independent films like The Speed of Life, which won the Queer Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.
But it was in 2011 where White had his breakout role as Lip Gallagher in the hit Showtime show Shameless, portraying the eldest son of the dysfunctional Gallagher family. It was a role he played for ten years, earning a Critics Choice Award nomination in 2014 for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and catching the eye of the entire world. But even though White carried this success, there was a worry that spending this much time on the show might’ve pigeonholed him into the world only seeing him as Lip. He was at a crossroads, and when he was doing a film called The Rental, the world presented him the next phase of his life and the person who would change everything for the young actor; writer-director (and producer of The Rental) Christopher Storer.
Shortly after working with each other on the indie horror flick, White was offered the lead role of Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto on Storer’s show The Bear, which followed the life of an emotionally troubled chef who returns home to Chicago to run his deceased brother’s sandwich shop alongside a cast of extraordinary, wild characters. The show, which is currently filming its fifth season, was a smash hit as White nabbed every award under the sun for his work as Carmy, receiving multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics Choice Award wins over the last three years. At the same time as the success of The Bear was going on, White gave layered, intense, heartfelt performances in films like Fremont, Fingernails, and The Iron Claw; the latter being the one that garnered him the most acclaim for a big screen project. All roads to this moment lead him to the performance he transforms into within Scott Cooper’s latest film, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, as White becomes rock star Bruce Springsteen at the turning point of his career and his life. In channeling all the personal anxiety, fear with the sudden push into stardom and fame, White was able to relate to The Boss in more ways that anyone could have imagined, spending months getting to the man, learning his music, honing in on mannerism to create his version of the man, musician that would create not only his most personal album ever in Nebraska, but plenty of tunes found one of his signature albums, Born in the USA.
In my review of the film from the Telluride Film Festival, I spoke about how “astonishing” Jeremy Allen White’s performance was in the film, stating that he “crushes his turn as Springsteen, as he nails every single heartbreaking inflection displayed within the songs of Nebraska. It’s a one of a kind, detailed performance that will rank as one of the best of the year, cementing White as one of the best actors of his generation, giving an all-time acting showcase within a biopic.” It’s a performance that has stuck out all year long, and as a lifelong fan of Bruce Springsteen’s music, there was no way a conversation with the actor and myself wouldn’t take place. In a recent conversation right before the Thanksgiving break, I sat down with White to discuss his first impressions of Springsteen as a person when meeting him, seeing play live for the first time, his relationship with the Nebraska album, and how he relates to this time in Bruce’s life. We also talked about how this film connects emotionally to the characters he’s played in the past, like Carmy in The Bear, his preparation to performing the music in the film, the vital relationships he’s made in the process of making this movie, and what he hopes to do with his future projects. I asked him about if he’d consider doing a musical, now that we know he can sing and his background in dance, and he smiled and assured me that I had more confidence that he did in making that work. Humble, honest, committed, Jeremy Allen White is born to run, and we can’t wait to see where he takes us next.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is currently in theaters from 20th Century Studios.
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