Talk about Boss. A biopic about the life of Bruce Springsteen is in its early stages, IndieWire has learned, and it seems like some big names are already racing in the street to be involved.
Here’s what we know for sure: The project is being put together by lead producers Eric Robinson and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of The Gotham Group, and they’ve got Springsteen and his manager producer Jon Landau involved in its development.
They’ve also brought Scott Stuber aboard as a producer, making the Bruce film his first project as a producer since he announced his exit as Netflix’s longtime film chief.
Beyond that, details are still being worked out and deals still need to be put in place. But another source says A24‘s involvement is in talks stage. Scott Cooper, the “Crazy Heart” filmmaker, is also in talks to write the script and would direct. And “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White is in talks for the lead role as a young Springsteen.
The project is based on Warren Zanes’ book “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” which was published last May and documents the making of Springsteen’s album “Nebraska.” Robinson found the book and has worked with Goldsmith-Vein to set up all the key players.
The book “Deliver Me From Nowhere” features interviews with Springsteen and other collaborators about the making of his 1982 masterpiece “Nebraska,” which Springsteen today considers possibly his finest album of his career. The album is a stripped down, unvarnished, and even unfinished gem of Bruce simply playing rough-cut songs acoustically into a four-track recorder alone in his bedroom. The darker songs (“Nebraska” was released right after the epic sweep of his double album “The River” and prior to his commercial smash “Born in the U.S.A.”) were an unexpected turn for Springsteen, but it was a labor of love with songs that dated back to Bruce’s early days as a songwriter.
White most recently starred in A24’s “The Iron Claw,” so if A24 were to come aboard along with White, consider it a reunion. For White, it would be a trip east to New Jersey after completing work on the third and fourth seasons of “The Bear,” which is filming both seasons back to back in Chicago.
As for Springsteen, he’s cameoed in films and made documentary films and concert movies based on other recent albums, many of them with his collaborator Thom Zimny. But a full-blown biopic on a portion of his life, particularly the making of one album, has us excited. Music biopics can be good business when done right: Bob Marley’s “One Love” has made $173 million worldwide so far this year, the UK release of the Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black” is mere weeks away.
Deadline first reported the news.
