If you’re going to make a movie about Bruce Springsteen, the idea of focusing on 1982’s Nebraska is an interesting angle that many wouldn’t have pursued.
But author Warren Zanes, himself a musician over the decades both solo and with the Del Fuegos, had already taken the road less traveled. His 2023 book, Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, went deep into a period that has long been a fascinating one for fans.
How does Bruce Springsteen end up releasing a bunch of crude (especially by today’s standards) demos as the album that ends up following 1980’s The River? How and why did his management and record label let it happen? Why did Nebraska ultimately become a cult classic and eventually, a fan favorite out of all of the records that the New Jersey songwriter has made over the years?
READ MORE: Bruce Springsteen, ‘Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition’
These are just a few of the subjects that Zanes tackled in his book, with the participation of Springsteen himself, who offered valuable insights throughout the process, going so far as to take the author to the house where he’d written and recorded the songs for Nebraska. A seed was planted.
The book became important source material which led to the new movie, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (featuring The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White portraying the singer), which opens this week (Oct. 24) in theaters nationwide.
Watch the Trailer for ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’
As Zanes shares in a new interview, he got a surprising text from Springsteen after the film had been completed. He was sitting in a movie theater with his son, about to see a screening, when the message came in. “It’s the last thing I was expecting, because there was a lot going on, and he’s at the center of it all,” he tells Jim Hanke on the Vinyl Emergency podcast. “He just took a moment, to kind of register just the satisfaction and the wonder that Nebraska, the ultimate underdog of all recordings, brought this moment about. And you know, he thanked me for the book.”
Before all of that, it felt like a long path behind the scenes and a surprising one, getting Springsteen to even give his blessing for the idea of doing the film and as to whether he would participate, that was another bridge to cross.
Still, Zanes had this burning thought that a film about the Nebraska period, unlikely and commercially unviable on paper, was important. He’d gone as far as connecting with Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Black Mass), who he envisioned as someone who would be a good shepherd for the movie. Working with the director, the pair put together a one-page description of what the film could be.
Watch Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City’ Video
He sent the document to both Springsteen and the artist’s longtime manager, Jon Landau and he wouldn’t have to wait long for a reply. “Jon got back within minutes, which is his style. And he said, ‘This sounds interesting, but with Bruce on copy, I leave it to him and then I didn’t hear anything,'” Zanes recalls. Weeks later, he’d find himself back on the phone with the two, discussing a Nebraska-themed PBS special he’d been overseeing. The author took a second stab at pitching the idea.
“[At the] end of the call, I said, ‘Hey, did you read that one page?’ I said, ‘I would not be troubling you or Jon if I didn’t feel like there was something here.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I looked at it, let me look at that again. When did you email that?’ I told him the date, we say goodbye.” He only had to wait five minutes before he received further word. “I get this text from Bruce saying, ‘I’m into this’ and I just had to pull the car over.”
Zanes and Cooper had two initial encounters with Springsteen before things really got rolling and the author says it was the second meeting at the songwriter’s home in Colts Neck, N.J. that was a particular highlight.
There with Landau also in attendance, Cooper read an early draft of the script to Springsteen. “[He] Read that entire script [and] did all the characters. It was a dramatic reading. The only interruptions were if Patti [Scialfa, Springsteen’s wife] called, nobody else interrupted us,” Zanes remembers. “We were in the lounge off the studio, and it was afternoon. The sun went down and nobody turned on lights and Scott’s got enough light to read from. It was just as heavy an experience as I’ve ever been in, watching Bruce hearing this story of his own life as told by another person who’s doing Bruce as a character. The whole thing had this kind of resonance as a human experience that I knew was special, and it was a cool thing to share. And from that point forward, you know, Bruce would have plenty to say to help that script.”
As Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere hits theaters, Zanes is still a bit incredulous at the palpable spirit that the project took on. “If I were to give that spirit a name, it would be Nebraska. It would not be Bruce Springsteen,” he says. “Because I think even Bruce stands a few feet away from Nebraska and marvels at it. I think the real power is in this thing. He made this unexpected, imperfect, unfinished, muddy, flawed work of art that walked into the world.”
READ MORE: ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’: Review
Listen to Warren Zanes on the ‘Vinyl Emergency’ Podcast
Bruce Springsteen Albums Ranked
From scrappy Dylan disciple to one of the leading singer-songwriters of his generation, the Boss’ catalog includes both big and small statements of purpose.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
