First Look at Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen Divides Fans

“THE BEAR” IS officially on his way to becoming “The Boss,” and our very first look at what it’s going to look like is dividing movie and music fans everywhere. Production has finally begun on the much-discussed Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, which will star Emmy-winning actor Jeremy Allen White (of The Bear fame) as the New Jersey rock legend. To celebrate filming getting underway, 2srcth Century Studios released an official first image of White in character.

The movie, which will be written and directed by Scott Cooper (Black Mass, Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace), is also set to star Stephen Graham, Paul Walter Hauser, Odessa Young, and possibly Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s longtime manager Jon Landau. It’s based on writer Warren Zanes’s 2src23 book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, which dives deep behind the scenes into the making of Springsteen’s quintessential 1982 album Nebraska. The film has no set release date yet, but it’s planned to hit theaters in 2src25.

“Beginning production on this film is an incredibly humbling and thrilling journey,” Cooper said in a statement, according to Variety. “Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska has profoundly shaped my artistic vision. The album’s raw, unvarnished portrayal of life’s trials and resilience resonates deeply with me. Our film aims to capture that same spirit, bringing Warren Zanes’s compelling narrative of Bruce’s life to the screen with authenticity and hope, honoring Bruce’s legacy in a transformative cinematic experience.

While the film should follow a vital moment in the careers of one of America’s greatest musical artists, fans online have expressed divided reactions based on the first image of White in character as Springsteen.

Many suggested that White’s look as Springsteen simply looks the same way he does in both The Bear and in regular life.

Others were more positive. Some expressed optimism based on White’s look, while others suggested that the source material—Springsteen’s personal and professional journey while making Nebraska—could make for a really great movie experience.

Some other lingering thoughts are out there too, with one user pointing out that White is from Brooklyn, while Springsteen is famously from New Jersey.

In any event, the movie comes at a time when it feels like the music biopic is picking back up again. More than five years ago, Rami Malek won the Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and a number of biopics followed, including Rocket Man (with Taron Egerton as Elton John).

After a quiet couple of years, they returned recently with a vengeance, as Austin Butler was a major Oscar contender for his role in Elvis, Naomi Ackie played Whitney Houston in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Kingsley Ben-Adir played Bob Marley in Bob Marley: One Love, and Industry star Marisa Abela played Amy Winehouse in Back to Black. Butler’s turn as Elvis was the only of these to get any significant awards attention, though.

Timothée Chalamet is hoping to regain some of that magic this year with A Complete Unknown, where he plays Bob Dylan; that movie hits theaters in December. A more unique take on the music biopic, director Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements (which is a part-documentary, part-dramatization of the history of the formative ‘9srcs alternative band Pavement), is set to hit the