Jeremy Allen White might not be the first person you’d picture playing The Boss but the new trailer for the upcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic, might just change your mind. Best known for his Emmy-winning role in The Bear, White transforms into the rock legend as the movie revisits the period following Springsteen’s 1980 pop breakthrough Hungry Heart. In the trailer, he’s seen strumming the guitar, playing harmonica, and singing both Nebraska’s title track and the anthemic Born To Run.
To nail the role, White didn’t cut corners. “There’s just so much footage,” he told GQ last year. “It’s really great to go down a YouTube rabbit hole and find him at all these different periods in his life and be able to listen to his speaking voice as well as his singing voice. It’s been really fun preparing.”
Springsteen himself was a regular on set and has given his stamp of approval. “He’s got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply recognise and he’s just done a great job, so I’ve had a lot of fun,” said the star. He even praised White as “a terrific actor” who sings “very well.”
The film, directed by Scott Cooper and based on Warren Zanes’ book, digs into the deeply personal phase of Springsteen’s life during the early ’80s — a time of creative tension, introspection, and emotional reckoning. Much of Nebraska was recorded alone by Springsteen in his Colts Neck, New Jersey home, capturing a rawness rarely seen in mainstream music at the time. White, now 33, is close in age to Springsteen when he made the album.
Fans are torn
Initial reactions are mixed. “Nebraska is one of my all time favorite albums. Absolutely cannot wait for this!” wrote one Reddit user. Another chimed in, “Came here to say the same thing. Got chills hearing the opening of Nebraska in this clip. Can’t believe they went with that. Everyone knows Bruce from Born to Run and Born in the USA, but I think Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad are his finest work.”
Still, not everyone is convinced. “Jeremy Allen White just doesn’t look like Bruce at least 50% of the time,” one fan noted. “But then some shots (like the ones at 0:27 and 0:28) look really close.” Another wrote, “He seems to really nail the physicality while playing guitar, eerily so… but yeah, cautiously… well I don’t know if I’m optimistic. This is a very Dewey Cox trailer.” There’s also buzz about the source material. One fan of the book remarked, “The author, Warren Zanes, focuses on the period between the end of The River Tour and the release of Born in the USA. This was a critical, existential period for Springsteen. If the movie indeed focuses on the making of Nebraska, it will not be your run of the mill birth-to-death musical biopic.”
Others, however, weren’t feeling the trailer’s vibe. “Any interest I might have had completely diminished as I saw Scott Cooper’s name,” said one. “Man has had an uncanny ability, in my experience, to completely fumble every single one of his films.” Another added, “I think it’s silly to release biopics about people who are still alive.” And then there’s the skepticism many seem to share: “This looks corny af. Feels almost like a parody trailer. Also not vibing with Jeremy as Springsteen here. Maybe it’s just the trailer and the movie will be good.”
This biopic is already striking a chord, and it hasn’t even hit theaters yet.
