Jeremy Strong reveals how Bruce Springsteen himself captured authenticity for key Deliver Me From Nowhere scene

Jeremy Strong is no stranger to playing real-life characters on the big screen – having starred as everyone from JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to anti-war activist Jerry Rubin to notorious prosecutor Roy Cohn in various film projects in the past decade or so.

But in new biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the Succession star experienced a first: playing someone who is still alive. In the film, Strong has a key role as Bruce Springsteen's long-time manager and record producer Jon Landau, who is shown to be fiercely loyal to the beloved musician during what was a difficult period of his life.

"I feel the same level of responsibility, whether they're there, whether they're not there," Strong explained during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com when asked if there was a difference playing someone who is still around.

"[But] what changed was that it's been profoundly gratifying to feel that Jon feels seen and represented, and something of his essence captured by the work in the movie.

"For me, in a way, the movie has an audience of one, and it's him – so that's been amazing."

Strong continued that it was great to have Landau "as a resource and as a kind of oracle" that he could reach out to on occasion, although he acknowledged that he had to do a "tremendous amount" of his own research in order to properly inhabit the role.

"I can't be outsourcing my work to someone on the day," he explained. "His instincts need to become my instincts and I need to believe, in a sense, that I'm Jon when I show up on the set.

"That said, it was incredible to be able to go to the source when I did have questions, or when we wanted to expand or deepen certain scenes, or find out more detail about what actually happened. Both he and Bruce were incredibly available and generous to us."

When pressed if there was one particular scene in the movie where that resource came in handy, Strong mentioned a key moment in which Jon visits Bruce while he's at a low ebb and gives him some reassuring advice.

"I had an instinct that was different and there were a lot of texts with Bruce and Jon the night before the scene," he explained. "And, you know, in their early days – Bruce writes about this in Born to Run – they used to stay up all night listening to music. They would just play records for each other.

"So I said, 'I think I want to try and play Bruce a song.' And then I asked them, 'What song might that be?' So there's an incredible text exchange of all these different ideas of what I could play him.

"And then I finally asked Bruce, 'What song would you play if you were trying to save your friend's life?' And then at about midnight, the night before we shot the scene, he sent me this Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers Song [Last Mile Of The Way], and that became what's in the movie. So that was an example of just how collaborative and authentic the making of it was."

One of the key themes explored in the film is the incredibly supportive dynamic that Landau and Springsteen had both personally and professionally, with the former seen uncompromisingly standing up for The Boss's artistic vision even in spite of strong opposition from recored label executives.

And this aspect of their relationship was one that Strong found especially rewarding to explore.

"I'm very moved by Jon," he said. "And he is that person. He has been that person who has just steadfastly defended the integrity of the work, and is like Cerberus at the gates.

You know, he's going to protect Bruce's vision from any forces that seek to dilute it, diminish it, alter it for commercial purposes. He's created a kind of fortress of care and sensitivity that's allowed Bruce to flourish in the pure way that he has."

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is released in UK cinemas on Friday 24th October 2025.

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