Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere(2025)

Plot Summary

• In 1981, Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) reaches the end of his latest sold-out concert tour. Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong), his manager and producer, rents a house for Bruce to lay low from his growing fame, near Freehold, New Jersey where he grew up.Bruce's close friend and mechanic Matt Delia (Harrison Gilbertson) drives him to the house in Colts Neck, and Bruce buys his first new car. Playing with local bands at the Stone Pony, he meets Faye Romano (Odessa Young), an old classmate's younger sister. On the heels of his first top-ten song "Hungry Heart", his record label expects another hit album, and Bruce suggests trimming studio costs by preparing a demo himself.Bruce has a troubled relationship with his father Douglas (Stephen Graham), an alcoholic battling mental health issues, which drove a young Bruce to defend his mother Adele (Gabby Hoffmann) with a baseball bat. Reading the works of Flannery O'Connor, Bruce catches the crime drama Badlands (1973) on television and is drawn to research the crime spree of Charles Starkweather. Inspired, he writes a song in the killer's own voice, and takes Faye on a date to Asbury Park.At the house, Bruce enlists his guitar technician Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser) to turn the bedroom into a makeshift studio, with a four-track recorder to arrange the demo themselves. Growing close to Faye and her young daughter Haley, Bruce writes a collection of stark, somber songs with a blue-collar perspective, influenced by his childhood memories, especially of his father. Jon informs Bruce of other opportunities piling up, including a possible movie role, but Bruce is committed to his new music. Recording his new tracks unaccompanied, he makes the risky choice to embrace an imperfect, unvarnished sound quality.Mike brings Jon the only copy of the completed demo, a single cassette tape, and Jon confides his wife about the unexpected darker, deeply personal songs. Living in California, Adele calls Bruce for help with an increasingly erratic Douglas. After visiting his father, Bruce arrives in New York City to record the new album, reuniting with the E Street Band. They lay down several successful tracks, including "Born in the U.S.A.", but Bruce is unhappy with the overall full-band studio sound of the record.After two weeks of recording, Bruce has not recaptured the acoustic vision for the album. Abandoning Faye, he insists on shelving the potential hits until he is satisfied. Jon agrees to use Bruce's raw demo, unchanged, for the new record, suspecting Bruce fears losing himself in the face of success. Using older equipment to recreate the demo tape as a vinyl master recording, Bruce's original sound is successfully preserved for the new album "Nebraska" (1982).Record executive Al Teller (David Krumholtz) is dismayed by the stylistic departure, and the absence of the prospective hits, but Jon defends Bruce's artistic vision and decision to allow the album to speak for itself - no singles, tours, or press appearances, not even his face on the cover. Bruce informs Faye that he is moving to Los Angeles alone, and she tearfully accuses him of refusing to face his fears. He suffers from a mental breakdown as Matt drives him across the country, but they reach his new home in Los Angeles. Contemplating suicide, Bruce reaches out to Jon, who urges to seek professional help, and an emotional Bruce visits a therapist.Ten months later, Bruce is back on tour with Jon's support, and is visited by his proud parents. Douglas asks the 32-year-old Bruce to sit on his lap for the first time, reconnecting with his son. An epilogue reveals that "Nebraska" (1982) reached number three on the charts, while the hits included on Bruce's following album ("Born in the U.S.A." (1984)) launched him to global superstardom, as he continued to seek treatment for depression.

Storyline

• Bruce Springsteen's journey crafting his 1982 album Nebraska, which emerged as he recorded Born in the USA with the E Street Band. Based on Warren Zanes' book.