Succession actor Jeremy Strong has spoken about his latest role, playing Bruce Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau in the biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Jeremy Allen White plays Springsteen, who finds himself at a difficult point in life while recording his sixth album, 1982’s ‘Nebraska‘. Landau is credited by many with influencing the music legend artistically and personally.
“It’s honestly been one of the greatest working experiences I’ve ever had” Strong told Deadline. “(Landau) has a lot to do with who Bruce is”. The Emmy winner then talked about the access he and his co-star were given to the real life men they were playing.
“Bruce and Jon really opened the kimono to Jeremy and me” he explains. “The more I’ve learned about them and witnessed them together, it really is a love story in a sense between these two men. Jon has been so instrumental in helping to guide Bruce, coming into his life at a moment where Bruce was really at a crossroads”.
He said of the film “it’s really a story about artistic authenticity in an increasingly synthetic world”.
Strong has played another famous mentor on film recently, starring alongside Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice, a portrayal of the early days of Donald Trump (Stan) as he learns at the feet of ruthless New York lawyer Roy Cohn (Strong).
While the characters are both mentors, Strong said that Cohn bears no comparison. “He stands alone” he said. “He’s been called one of the worst human beings of the 20th century. It’s hard to put my thumb on a kind of single descriptive term because he’s such a paradox. That made it such a rich dramatic character to play, that he’s not just one thing”.
He then explained what he felt drove the men portrayed in the film. “Clout is a defining virtue for Roy and for Donald Trump because you have this belief, and it’s borne out” he said. “If you know people and you can pull the levers of power, you can essentially make the world in your own image”.
Strong earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work in The Apprentice, with the film strongly tipped for Academy Award recognition. Deliver Me From Nowhere is scheduled for release sometime in 2025.
Recently, Springsteen was pictured visiting White on the set of the film.
