Opening Oct. 24 in theaters is Deliver Me from Nothing, a biopic about Bruce Springsteen. It takes place in 1982. Jeremy Allen White, the star of the Hulu series The Bear, plays Springsteen.
Springsteen grew up in a blue collar, working-class Catholic family in New Jersey. A Dutch ancestor gave Bruce a Dutch last name. But he’s mostly of Irish and Italian ancestry.
His first two albums (1972 and ’73) were well-reviewed, but sales were so-so. His third album, Born to Run (1975), was a huge breakout album, as was the title song. It was a “real rocking” album, but smart and touching, too.
Jon Landau, a rock critic, changed careers and he produced the Born to Run album. He gave Bruce a lot of good advice on this album, and he’s produced almost all the Springsteen albums since 1975. He’s now 77 and he’s Bruce’s “right-hand man.”
Bruce’s fourth and fifth albums sold well, but not great. But everyone said he was still on the cusp of global superstardom. Many things in Bruce’s life led him to make Nebraska (1982), his sixth album. It’s an acoustic, somber album that focuses on the hard lives of blue-collar workers. It was recorded in Bruce’s bedroom, using very simple recording equipment. Nebraska got great reviews, and it’s still viewed as one of his best works.
Jeremy Strong, (Succession), 49, plays Landau. Strong’s father is Jewish; David Krumholtz, 46, plays Al Teller, now 81, a top record executive; and Marc Maron, 61, plays Chuck Plotkin, now 82, a top record producer/engineer who worked on Nebraska.
In 1984, Springsteen got that superstardom with the release of Born in the USA. “Born in the USA” was a monster hit song and the name of the equally popular album.
Max Weinberg (drummer), now 74, and Roy Bittan (keyboards), now 76, played on the Born to Run album and on every Springsteen album since — except Nebraska.
I have to say that it’s nice that all the real Jewish people in this film (Jon Landau, etc.) are played by Jewish actors. Also, it’s cool that Springsteen has so many Jewish friends and collaborators — and it’s great that he’s played “Hava Nagilah” in at least three concerts (1979, 2004, 2009).
Scorsese Documentary
Mr. Scorsese is a five-part. AppleTV documentary about famous director Martin Scorsese, 82. The first part streamed on Oct. 17. Other parts will stream each successive week. Many biggies were interviewed, including Steven Spielberg, 78.
The film was directed by Rebecca Miller, 62. Miller also directed a very good documentary about her Jewish father, the famous playwright Arthur Miller (Arthur Miller, A Writer. It was made for HBO and is available there.).
As I wrote last week, Rebecca’s mother wasn’t Jewish, and, like her husband, Daniel Day-Lewis, she’s secular (Day-Lewis’s mother was Jewish). Day-Lewis, 68, appears in his wife’s film, and he talks about acting in two films directed by Scorsese: The Age of Innocence (1993) and Gangs of New York (2002).
You can see two different informative trailers about this documentary on YouTube: Mr. Scorsese — First Look Apple+ and Mr. Scorsese-AppleTV. (In case you’re confused: Apple TV+ just changed its name to AppleTV.)
Also on YouTube is a recent, hour-long on-stage discussion about Mr. Scorsese. Search for: Talking Martin Scorsese’s Career. Miller is on the stage, as is Michael Imperoli, a Sopranos star. He had two short, but memorable scenes in Goodfellas, a Scorsese film.
I suspect Miller’s documentary film will mention Scorsese’s upcoming film. It’s about the Grateful Dead, the famous rock band. Jonah Hill, 41, has just been cast as Jerry Garcia, the most famous “Dead” member.
Scorsese has many ties to rock musicians. In 1976, he made a documentary about the last concert of “The Band,” a famous group. The concert featured three Jewish rockers: Robbie Robertson, the Band’s leader; Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond. In 2005, Scorsese made No Direction Home, a documentary about Dylan.
Stiller & Meara
Also premiering (AppleTV) on Oct. 24 is Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost. It’s a film about comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. It was directed by Ben Stiller, their son, and he narrates the film. A two-minute trailer on YouTube is very informative (just enter the name of the film and the trailer pops up).
In the trailer, Ben says that Jerry kept “everything” (home films, diaries, etc.). Ben makes it clear that his parents were loving parents who also loved each other.
No doubt, the film will mention that Jerry never asked Anne to convert to Judaism. That was her choice, and she really embraced Judaism.