Bruce Springsteen says actor playing him in film ‘sings pretty good’

By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter

Bruce Springsteen has said Jeremy Allen White, who will be playing the music star in an upcoming biopic, “is a great actor and sings pretty good”.

Deliver Me From Nowhere will depict the making of Springsteen’s landmark 1982 Nebraska album, based on the book by Warren Zanes.

Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, Springsteen, 75, said: “It’s a lovely cast and I am involved a little.”

Graham Norton Show – London
Graham Norton with Bruce Springsteen, Amy Adams, Vanessa Williams, Bill Bailey and St Vincent (Isabel Infantes/PA) Photo by Isabel Infantes

Asked whether Allen White will be lip-syncing, he added: “This is not easy to do because you can’t do an imitation, you have to do a personal interpretation.

“It’s difficult but he is a great actor and sings pretty good.”

Allen White, 33, won the lead actor Emmy award for playing Carmy in hit drama The Bear earlier in the year and is also known for playing Lip Gallagher in US series Shameless.

Springsteen, known to his fans as “The Boss”, also reflected on his more than five-decade-long career and and was asked whether he still gets nervous performing.

“I get anticipatory anxiety,” he said.

“It’s not quite the same thing as nervousness.

Graham Norton Show – London
Bruce Springsteen on the BBC One show (Isabel Infantes/PA) Photo by Isabel Infantes

“It’s a natural feeling to have before you go out to challenge yourself.

“If it wasn’t there, I think there would be something wrong with you and you couldn’t do the job.”

Springsteen is joined on the show by Hollywood actress Amy Adams who talks about her role in the new comedy horror film Nightbitch.

She said: “Our director said it’s a comedy for women and a horror for men.

“I think it is a real, accurate reflection of a woman’s experience of motherhood and loss of identity.

“My character taps into a wild, feral side of herself and begins to comprehend she might be turning into a dog, so she surrenders to it in order to find a different joy in her life and parenting outside societal expectations and norms.”

Graham Norton Show – London
Amy Adams and Vanessa Williams (Isabel Infantes/PA) Photo by Isabel Infantes

Talking about the perils of working with animals, she added: “The trainers had set the scene with the dogs with very calm voices, but when I came out in a zombie like state, one of the dogs was like, ‘Not cool’ and started a revolt and they all came at me.

“It was fine. I was raised in Colorado so know the whole protective thing from hiking where there are bears.”

Comedian Bill Bailey talks about his new book My Animals, And Other Animals: A Memoir Of Sorts on the BBC One show while Ugly Betty star Vanessa Williams discusses her interpretation of Miranda Priestly in West End musical The Devil Wears Prada.

This week’s performer is US music artist St Vincent who sings her track Big Time Nothing from her album All Born Screaming.

The Graham Norton Show airs Friday on BBC One at 10.40pm and is also available on BBC iPlayer.