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Dichiarazioni di Jeremy Allen White e del regista Scott Cooper su Springsteen: Liberami dal Nulla
Oct 27, 2025
Video della conferenza stampa tenutasi Venerdì 10 ottobre 2025, alle 12:15 presso lo The Space Cinema Moderno di Roma con la star Jeremy Allen White e Scott Cooper per parlare del film Springsteen: Liberami dal Nulla (2025) ____ 📱 Seguici sui social! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/locchiodelcineastafilmeserie/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/locchiodelcineastafilmeserie Twitter: https://twitter.com/occhiocine Telegram: https://t.me/+sPR_v354ZEsyN2U0 💰 Supportaci! Acquista dal nostro link affiliato ➡️ https://amzn.to/3fw3QSw 📺 Iscriviti ai servizi streaming! Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/?&tag=locchiodelc00-21 Audible: https://www.amazon.it/hz/audible/mlp/mfpdp/ASINDELTITOLO?actionCode=AZIOther35606092201BR&tag=locchiodelc00-21
View Video Transcript
0:07
[Music]
0:13
[Applause]
0:30
Scott Cooper [Applause]
0:42
Jeremy and White
0:55
Thank you.
1:11
Hello. Thank you. Gracias.
1:17
Hello.
1:40
If you could just repeat uh the question. Oh yeah.
1:54
I can't hear you. Um, I think the
1:59
when Bruce wrote that in 1982, it's as though he wrote the album today.
2:06
It's an album that speaks certainly in America to a certain uh mallays
2:14
spiritual vacancy, moral ambiguity.
2:22
Bruce Springsteen is political, but not in the partisan sense, but in the human
2:30
sense. And his album speaks to people who live on the margins of society.
2:38
Uh dispossessed people who um
2:43
living lives of quiet desperation. People who strive for the American dream
2:51
and fall short. That's what he wrote about in 1982 and it's continued to this
2:57
day. And I think that's why the album feels so relevant certainly to me in the
3:03
times in which we live in America.
3:09
Yeah. Um yeah, the album in Nebraska. Um I know when I listen to it, I I hear um
3:17
the question why. Um I hear confusion, uh a lot of anger, but also a longing
3:23
for um for connection. Uh I think, you know, it was
3:29
born out of um isolation. Um but
3:34
ultimately uh it's it's it's when I listen to it I feel very um u
3:42
understood. There's also a lot of uh uh empathy on the record. So I think yes um
3:49
you know the the state of the world or the United States it's a you know there's a lot of uh anger and confusion
3:55
going on but uh I also hear a lot of um uh uh hope um in in the records. Yeah.
4:19
incredibly gratifying. Um, I think since about 1986, Bruce has has been asked to
4:25
make films about his life. Um, Bruce doesn't give over uh his story and in
4:32
particular the story of Nebraska very easily. Um,
4:37
John Landau, who's portrayed by Jeremy Strong in the film, John Landal said to
4:43
me, he said, "Scott, this is the first time in 50 years that Bruce has ever handed the wheel over to anybody else."
4:51
So that was of course a lot of pressure, but uh, incredibly rewarding and and
4:57
gratifying and also because the album of Nebraska had such personal resonance for
5:03
me. Um, my father to whom I dedicated the film introduced me to Bruce
5:11
Springsteen through Nebraska and it's a record that I would turn to as I was writing other movies of mine
5:18
well before uh this film was even a consideration.
5:23
So then when I met with John and Bruce for the first time, they're both cophiles. uh Bruce uh watches a lot of
5:31
movies and he'd seen all of my films and some a few times. John Landal was a former uh movie critic, rock critic and
5:40
these gentlemen know movies. Uh but for the first hour of our meeting, we just talked about life. We talked about uh
5:47
other movies and then we got to the basics of talking about this one and it was a very quick yes. I'm so thankful it
5:53
was. Um with the question but to have Bruce's
6:00
blessing going
6:10
yeah I mean um uh incredible I think in in the beginning you know um it was such
6:15
a a daunting task um I obviously you know I came onto the project a little
6:21
bit later after the structure and you know the script was sort of agreed upon between Scott and and Bruce Bruce and
6:28
and John. Um, but I think it makes a lot of sense that Bruce chose to have um uh
6:35
uh this period be the focus of the film. Um, I think that he was at a a real
6:41
crossroads in life um during this time. Um, I think the choices he made over the
6:47
period of the film um made it possible for him to to lead the life that he's
6:52
he's had um for the past 40 years. Um and for him uh yeah to to have uh wanted
7:01
me and and and that him and Scott um uh uh came to me. Um I felt uh felt very
7:09
lucky. Um I remember I I I I took a little bit of time to consider just because you know there is so much
7:15
pressure. he is such a an iconic figure and and originally I I didn't want to uh
7:21
I don't know risk interrupting um his sort of fans or or audience's uh
7:26
relationship with him. Um and so Scott and I were talking about it for about a week and then Scott shared with me, you
7:32
know, Bruce really wants you to do this. And I said, why didn't you tell me that before? Um I won't stand in his way. And
7:38
uh and so I I said yes. And he's been lovely, you know, throughout the process. Very supportive. And uh and
7:44
yeah, since the film's come out, very supportive.
8:01
Bruce,
8:19
I wonder um certainly as as a filmmaker you uh
8:26
sometimes project projects choose you because you feel so compelled to make them. Nebraska
8:33
was that for Bruce. I didn't even think he was making a record. Um but then he
8:40
was leading a life of such quiet desperation that he had to make this
8:46
record. Um of course I didn't chose to make this particular uh film. Um, but
8:53
some films that I make uh uh come to me u and very much many of the scenes come
9:00
to me while believe it or not while I'm sleeping while I'm dreaming. Uh so those
9:06
sort of things you can never account for. Um I think it's it's hard to say. It's it's it's case by case but uh for
9:13
this one I certainly was desperately wanted to make it.
9:18
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think that that you know so much of this film is about um sort of uh honesty and um and and the
9:25
feeling of of of fraudulence. Um and I think that moment in the beginning of the film and and also Bruce coming home
9:32
to New Jersey. He's he's he's not recognizing his um
9:38
his older self or or he's having trouble recognizing uh uh the place he he came
9:44
from and um it's just not sounding honest to him. Uh, I think him switching off the radio was was that that sense of
9:50
of feeling like fraud or or not recognizing the man that made that record and and then um I think you know
9:56
the making of Nebraska was so um was so instinctual. Um but but Scott said it,
10:02
you know, he he didn't know what um he didn't know what he was making. You know, he he didn't know what it was going to be, if anything. Um uh and I
10:10
think uh when you're working from that place um you can't help but make it
10:15
honest because you're not thinking about um uh the result.
10:54
model.
11:01
It's interesting because when Bruce made Nebraska um the process for for Bruce and for
11:08
almost all musicians uh was to go into a studio to write in the studio to record
11:14
in the studio. So so what Bruce is doing uh was completely unorthodox to record
11:20
in his bedroom. Today many albums are recorded at home. uh younger musicians,
11:28
older musicians, they have the capabilities to record in a home studio
11:34
and then they have the capability to perfect their voice,
11:40
perfect uh through autotune uh through uh protect their uh their
11:48
musicianship. Bruce was chasing the imperfect.
11:55
He wanted to recapture the sound
12:00
that he recorded in the bedroom. So that when you see him going into the power station in New York City into one of the
12:07
best recording studios in the world, in an effort to recapture
12:13
the imperfect, the studio was making it better. They were the musicians were
12:18
making it better. And Bruce was obsessive about trying to find exactly
12:24
the sound that he heard in his bedroom that went through the four track
12:30
recorder that we see, the home recorder through what's called the Echoplex, which gives it a short echo like those
12:36
Elvis Sun records that Bruce loved so much that were an influence for him when he was a young singer.
12:43
And then of course it was mixed down through this boom box, which most kids don't even know what a boom box is
12:50
today. And because that boom box is essentially corroded,
12:56
it was it played the tape back at a slower speed. So all of that came
13:02
together to give us one of the best albums of the last 50 years in my
13:07
estimation in many estimation from a lot of singers and songwriters that I know
13:13
in America. So in an effort to
13:18
find exactly what it was that he was compelled to tell, he went to great lengths as we see in film. And today you
13:25
can do that uh I think with the press of a button. Isn't that sad?
13:32
Yeah. No, I mean I I I think Scott said it all really on that, but but um but
13:38
yeah, I think you know it's it's more common place obviously now you can record a record wherever you are, but
13:45
but at the time it was very radical. Um and uh and so therefore the the sound of
13:50
the record, the intimacy, um how how both kind of close you felt and and in
13:57
the room you felt with Bruce, but um there was also like a sort of like a
14:03
haunting um distance. Uh and I think because it's become so common place to record at home and the sound is so good
14:10
and so much is possible um uh and technology has caught up. I I I don't
14:16
know. I I don't know what would be a radical way um uh to make uh to make a record like that today. Yeah.
14:22
But this is the most punk record that Bruce has ever made. Not in sound, but
14:29
in spirit. And I think that's what separates this particular album from all
14:34
of his other work.
15:00
Um yeah, I mean I think you know uh when I met Bruce he um he delivered on on so
15:08
much. he delivered on sort of the idea of Bruce Springsteen and and I think getting to meet him in his element uh
15:14
about to perform for for three and a half hours for 90,000 people um was a
15:20
gift but also uh you know intimidating uh in a way knowing that in a few months
15:26
uh I would have to try to capture you know some of this. Um but in in getting
15:32
to know him and and speaking to him even in that night you know I I find in his performances
15:38
there's a it's so physical there's almost a a violence uh to his
15:44
performances on on stage and and such a a passion but you know in speaking to
15:49
him he's got such a um a gentleness uh kindness and and real presence um but
15:58
you know I I what I took away from sort of or what I could have maybe learned from and in
16:04
Bruce during this period in his life, but but also
16:10
the process of of allowing us to make this film and like Scott said to take his hands off the wheel and and uh and
16:15
allow us to tell some of his story and and this story specifically. Um there was just a tremendous amount of um
16:22
bravery on his part um uh for leaning on those uh who were close to him like John
16:28
Landau at the time uh of the film, you know. Um and then and then again
16:33
allowing allowing Scott and I to to put our hands on the wheel for a moment. Um,
16:38
so I think you know what stands out um and what I have found very uh admirable
16:45
throughout the process making discoveries about Bruce as a young man but also getting to know him as a as an
16:51
older gentleman um you know uh I've taken away and admire his his bravery. Absolutely.
17:16
Yeah. The the musical underscore is composed by Jeremiah Freightz who is a musician from New Jersey and who happens
17:23
to be one of the founding members of the American rock band the Lumers.
17:29
And of course like most everyone else in New Jersey he grew up a
17:35
And when I was writing the screenplay in the narration, the action of the
17:40
screenplay, I said that I felt the score would be
17:45
born out of Terrence Malik's Badlands in a sense, which we hear a little bit of.
17:52
And I'm so grateful that uh Mr. Malik gave me the footage for this. He's he's
17:59
a sort of mentor over the years to me and and Of course, he only said, "Uh,
18:05
you can use the footage, but just make sure you don't show me as an actor because he's in the film." Um, so
18:10
Jeremiah and I discussed the instrumentation that would be in the score for Batman's uh, The Glen Pill,
18:17
which is also in Nebraska, the piano. But I said to Jeremiah, I
18:22
said, "The sound that I hear is an imperfect sound, much like how I made Nebraska. I made
18:30
the film Nebraska the same way that Bruce made the record,
18:35
just to say minimalist, very stark, no gloss, no spectacle. The camera never
18:41
looks away. Um, and I said that's what I think the score should be on a very
18:47
emotional level. Spare. Um, Bruce so often said to me that even though
18:54
there's no piano on Nebraska, he heard piano come from bad lands for some
19:00
reason. So that was something that that that we used uh quite a bit. Um and the
19:06
piano that he used is so imperfect that when Jeremiah had a professional tuner come to retune
19:15
the piano, he said, "The is junk. This is firewood. You should just get rid of
19:21
this." But the sound we love so much because of the imperfections that it
19:26
seemed to score Bruce's equilibrium. There's also a man, even though we hear
19:31
the piano with his relationship with Fay. Bruce is very public about not being
19:37
able, as you see in the film, to form a real connection with a partner and
19:43
inexplicably when he felt things were going well, he would just pull back. And we wanted so we were pulling back in
19:50
certain moments of of the score, but it mostly was born out of Terence Mall.
19:57
Congratul
20:28
Jeremy Alen White.
20:44
I'll just quickly say that that um the film that Bruce would never agree to be
20:50
made is a film about born in the USA or born to run. Um because Nebraska,
20:59
Bruce thinks is his he's publicly said his his most personal most enduring work
21:04
that he thinks his best work and I would agree with him. I think he felt that because it was a very narrow and
21:10
specific time frame in his life and as he the most painful chapter of his life
21:16
that if the audience understood Bruce in 1982,
21:21
they will understand Bruce in a much larger sense. So I think that's why he
21:27
very quickly said yes to to this notion. Sorry, what was the question?
21:45
his success was the source um
21:50
uh his success in in in the record uh uh Nebraska I I guess we're speaking of um
22:00
I I mean I I don't know I think that you know the the period in the film and and and sort of the way he was making the
22:07
records and and the way he was sort of um uh understanding and revisiting his
22:13
past and and and sort of trying to make um trying to make sense of it. I guess I
22:20
think of it as a as a as a breakthrough moment of um a sort of honesty and and
22:27
um any um you know I think the large amount of success he had with that
22:32
record was really his own. I think it was like critically wellreceived. Um I think what did it
22:39
debut at? Number number three. Number three, right? Eyes of God. Yeah. Yeah. Those eyes of God. Um but
22:44
it's been long lasting and I think that's because of um that's because of
22:50
you know the honesty of the record. Yeah.
23:16
Um yeah, I mean the influence I think you know Bruce has has spoken uh uh very
23:21
openly and and and written about you know uh his relationship with uh with his parents um specifically you know uh
23:27
you know his relationship with his is the sort of one of the main focuses of the film. Um, you know, I I think Bruce
23:35
grew up in um in a world where, you know, uh his his father is very
23:41
unpredictable. I think that made it very difficult for him to um to trust what was around him. Um and I think a lot of
23:47
what he's contending with um sort of in the period of this film is uh is is a
23:52
reaction, you know, uh to that youth uh being able to trust. And then I think also because he's reached this sort of
23:59
level of public notoriety or or or fame. Um um that trust is even even sort of
24:06
harder to find. Um and I think we're also contending with him at this period where you know I think hopefully for
24:13
many young people um they can look at their father's parents and put them up on a pedestal for you know hopefully a
24:20
very long time but at some point you you see a parent for for what they are which is a human. You see them for their
24:25
faults. um and and hopefully you can be very um accepting and and understanding
24:30
and empathetic of them at that period. Um and I think that's um that's a real highlight of the film. Um I've heard
24:38
people uh speak about Bruce's relationship to his father and and um and think there was like a tremendous
24:44
amount of u um anger there, but I think there was perhaps some some
24:49
disappointment. But but I think um Bruce always loved his father very much and and also made um uh a whole lot of room
24:58
for for understanding um for his father. I think that was very important to to
25:04
show you know in this film this period
25:17
I can do
25:32
I can't the influence of the
25:45
especially the father. Yes. As I mentioned uh earlier,
25:52
um my father introduced me all of my
25:58
musical tastes. God, my father introduced to me all of my
26:04
musical tastes. Opera, classical, jazz,
26:10
American country music, which led to my first love, Crazy Heart. Um, but when he
26:16
introduced me to Bruce Springsteen through Nebraska as a disillusioned
26:22
18-year-old who was uncertain of uh his place in the world, was uncertain uh his
26:29
future, uncertain uh about almost everything that related to who he was.
26:34
It came at the right time. So when I read Warren Zayn's book delivering from
26:41
nowhere, which this is based upon, it spoke to me. emotional honesty. Uh
26:46
Bruce's uncertainty. Um he was in disequilibrium.
26:52
Uh felt a lot like I was. So that was my approach to the screenplay.
26:58
And then the day before I started shooting the film, uh my father passed away and his
27:05
spirit um carried me through the uh making of this film. And um I have since
27:14
dedicated the movie to him and u I think he would really like it.
27:21
[Applause]
27:29
[Music]
27:36
Hello
28:13
Yeah, I mean I find you know um the the films that that sort of me most to me
28:20
are ultimately about um sort of belonging um uh purpose um u finding
28:28
family whether that be of blood or or otherwise and and so I guess um
28:34
attracted to these uh stories of of young men, lost men, lonely men um in um
28:42
in search um uh in search of uh of purpose and and ultimately um belonging.
28:49
But I think yes, you're right. Like these two men uh Bruce at this period in his life and and and and Carmen, you
28:56
know, they're um they're um a bit handicapped uh I think uh at least in
29:02
these stages um sort of emotionally in their ability to um to communicate, but
29:07
but I think they're both very skilled um and Bruce especially uh in sort of uh
29:12
communicating through through art uh through music. Um, I mean, Bruce has said many times, you know, um, and
29:19
especially during this period of his life, you know, uh, he has no problem being in the studio. Um, he has no
29:25
problem being on stage for for three, four hours. Um, it's really the other, uh, 21 20 hours that he really struggles
29:33
with. Um, and I think that's something that, yeah, him and him and Carmen absolutely share.
29:39
And in terms of my approach to uh the film and the aesthetic choices that I
29:45
made, uh this era in Bruce's life is well
29:51
photographed and well chronicled. So my Italian production designer, Stefan Gella, my longtime
29:58
production designer, was able to uh wonderfully recreate
30:04
Bruce's life. It also helped that Bruce
30:10
led me on that Stefan and me and my cinematographer
30:15
on the very first scout for the film and he took me to
30:20
the childhood neighborhood in Freehold, New Jersey. He took me, of course, to Asbury Park, New Jersey, the boardwalk.
30:27
He took me to the Stone Pony, uh, where Bruce has made iconic and played many,
30:32
many times. A very small club that we see in the film. Uh he took me to the Power Station recording studio in New
30:38
York City where many of his um uh great records were recorded and where he for
30:44
the very first time took an acoustic version of Born in the USA and electrify it out with the East Street Band which
30:50
we see in the film. So anytime you make a film about America's most authentic
30:55
artist, you better make certain that it's authentic. And because this is not
31:01
a documentary, but because I wanted it to feel like it was, because many things that happened in the story, of course,
31:08
happened in Bruce's life, and many things that he's never spoken about or written about happened in the film that
31:14
happened with his life. Um, being able to shoot in the exact
31:21
locations where Bruce uh where these events took place
31:26
infuse the film with the type of authenticity that uh I could only have dreamed of.
31:33
There were props in the movie that Bruce Springsteen lent to us, very personal props.
31:39
Couple of articles, clothing that Jeremy wear that Bruce gave us out of his
31:46
from from this era. Um, so to be able to recreate this world with such
31:52
specificity and then to have Bruce come to the set
31:57
and see that we've recreated it. Um, was one of the great joys of of my career
32:04
because uh, I know we got that right.
32:12
phone. Am I
32:25
Simply
32:34
[Music]
32:50
um yeah, I mean I think Bruce certainly represent
32:56
a sort of idea uh of America like like many artists in many different countries
33:02
uh do. Um I think um uh there is a lot
33:09
of truth in in sort of um u how
33:14
authentic uh Bruce's sort of uh interpretation of America is. Um I think
33:20
he's very admired globally um because of how people understand America through the lens of uh Bruce Springsteen. Um but
33:29
of course these things are never so simple. Um uh I think from my
33:36
perspective in my opinion um uh it's a very beautiful uh version of America. Is
33:42
that uh the complete um uh uh truth or reality of of America? Um, no, of course
33:50
not. I think it's very difficult to to be entirely um representative um for one
33:56
person to be a representative of of a nation. Can I echo what Jeremy
34:02
said, but I think our goal with this film was to strip away the icon for
34:07
Bruce Springsteen, strip away the mythology because everyone has an idea of who Bruce Springsteen is to them. For
34:14
some people, it's Born USA. For some people, it's Darkness of the Edge of Town. For some people, it's it's uh Born
34:20
to Run. Uh Nebraska is one of Bruce's least well-known albums, of course, but
34:27
one of his most respected. So, when Jeremy and I and Bruce and I discussed approaching a movie about
34:34
Bruce Springsteen, it was about not making a mythmaking film. It's not about
34:41
Bruce Springsteen, the icon. It's about a man who is a neglected soul who is repairing himself through music. I said
34:49
to Jeremy, I said, "He just happens to be Bruce Springsteen, but this is a man who is suffering uh from unresolved
34:57
trauma. This is a man who though from the outside world it would appear that
35:04
everything was going right. He's coming off an incredibly successful tour for the river. He's becoming
35:13
a superstar. But Bruce was very quietly deteriorating
35:20
inside. And he was living a life of isolation
35:25
and quiet despair. So that's what we focused on and not the method of the
35:31
icon to really humanize it.
35:57
Um, that's not very nice. Um but no, I mean similarly to to uh the way that
36:04
Bruce made, you know, his his record in Nebraska, like um you know, I don't
36:09
think you can be focused on the result of of sort of anything that you do. Um certainly anything that comes uh uh
36:16
after um you know making a film um uh
36:21
you know if if we're lucky enough any of us are lucky enough to get that sort of attention I think that's a wonderful thing because it'll bring more attention
36:28
to the film uh and more people will will see the film. Um but um but yeah, no uh
36:34
I'm not in the results business. Um uh I think I was just happy to um to be on
36:39
this journey with with Scott with Bruce with Jeremy. If I can just quickly add
36:45
something. Jeremy shares a lot of traits with Bruce
36:51
Springsteen and one of them that I most wanted was humility.
36:59
I think Jeremy deserves an Oscar. [Applause] [Music]
37:11
[Applause]
37:16
Please
37:29
journalist.