‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ Announced As Spotlight Gala of the 63rd New York Film Festival

This morning, the 63rd New York Film Festival dropped a bombshell, announcing Scott Cooper‘s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere as the Spotlight Gala selection. NYFF will host the stars and filmmaker, including Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong, as well as Springsteen himself. The film is being labeled as just the premiere, as opposed to a more specific distinction, so a debut for the biopic at a prior festival (as editor Joey Magidson has been suspecting with the Telluride Film Festival) remains possible. Either way, the movie just got a huge launching pad for the upcoming Oscar season, as well as a place near Bruce Springsteen‘s hometown/the filming location for the work to be celebrated. More below.

Here is the press release from Film at Lincoln Center:

Film at Lincoln Center announces the premiere of Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere as the Spotlight Gala selection of the 63rd New York Film Festival. At the premiere presentation on Sunday, September 28, Cooper and cast members Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, and Odessa Young will be in attendance, along with Bruce Springsteen. Presented by Film at Lincoln Center in partnership with Rolex, the 63rd New York Film Festival will take place from September 26 through October 13.

Jeremy Allen White inhabits a legend and lays bare his beating heart in this graceful, exceptionally moving film about a very specific part of peerless American rock icon Bruce Springsteen’s life. Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, adapted from Warren Zanes’s 2023 best-selling chronicle of the same title, is set at an early-’80s crossroads in Springsteen’s career when, still negotiating the transformative waves of his rising fame, he crafted the intensely personal acoustic songs that would become his mythic album Nebraska—at the same time that he was recording the demos for Born in the U.S.A., which would catapult him to global superstardom. This biographical drama focuses with gratifying specificity on the nitty-gritty of Springsteen’s songwriting, while never shying away from the realities of his familial traumas and personal depression. It’s more than just a tour de force for its incandescent star—it’s a reminder that the reason we love this seemingly larger-than-life hero is because he’s always been palpably human. Featuring a superior supporting cast, including Jeremy Strong (as Springsteen’s longtime manager and co-producer Jon Landau), Stephen Graham and Gaby Hoffmann (as Bruce’s parents), Paul Walter Hauser, David Krumholtz, and Odessa Young. The film is produced by Cooper, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Eric Robinson, and Scott Stuber. Tracey Landon and Zanes executive produce. A 20th Century Studios release. 

“The New York Film Festival has always felt like a spiritual home for the kind of cinema I believe in,” said director Scott Cooper. “To now arrive with a film about Bruce Springsteen—an artist whose music shaped not just a country but my own sense of storytelling—is something I could never have imagined. Getting to know Bruce, to explore his world and his spirit, has been one of the most profound creative experiences of my life. To share that experience with New York audiences, in a city that defines artistic possibility, is both an honor and a responsibility I hold with deep gratitude.”

“Taking its cue from the stark majesty of Bruce Springsteen’s classic album Nebraska, Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere has an intimacy and immediacy that eludes most film biographies,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival. “Anchored by Jeremy Allen White’s revelatory performance, this year’s Spotlight Gala selection is a fitting tribute to a living legend.” 

Scott Cooper is a director, writer, and actor known for his gritty, character-driven dramas that explore themes of redemption, violence, and American history. His directorial debut, Crazy Heart (2009), earned several award nominations and wins, including an Academy Award for best actor for Jeff Bridges. Additional critically acclaimed works include Out of the Furnace (2013), Black Mass (2015), and Hostiles (2017). 

The NYFF Main Slate and Spotlight selection committee is chaired by Dennis Lim, NYFF Artistic Director, and includes Florence Almozini, Justin Chang, K. Austin Collins, and Rachel Rosen. Violeta Bava, Michelle Carey, Leo Goldsmith, and Antoine Thirion are NYFF program advisors.

The New York Film Festival is an annual showcase of the best in world cinema. Since 1963, NYFF has shaped film culture and continues an enduring tradition of introducing audiences to bold and remarkable works from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. 

NYFF63 is generously supported by Festival Co-Chairs Susan and John Hess, Imelda and Peter Sobiloff, and Nanna and Dan Stern; Vice-Chairs Susannah Gray and John Lyons, and Tara Kelleher and Roy Zuckerberg; and Supporters Hillary Koota Krevlin and Glenn Krevlin, Ronnie Planalp, and Ari Rifkin.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere tickets will go on sale to the general public on Thursday, September 18 at noon ET, with pre-sale access for FLC Members prior to this date. Become an FLC Member by August 29 to secure NYFF63 pre-sale access and discounted tickets year-round. NYFF63 press and industry accreditation is now open through August 18.