Bruce Springsteen opens up about his mental health journey on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show with Scott Mills
Exclusive UK radio interview with Bruce Springsteen and Jeremy Allen White.
Ahead of the film release of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Bruce Springsteen and Jeremy Allen White join Scott Mills on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show for a UK radio exclusive interview together.
Bruce opens up to Scott Mills about his mental health journey and dealing with depression in the 50/60s
Scott: I think what's very important in this film is that you address something that we're still not great at discussing, but we have got a lot better but back in the 70s and 80s even less so men's mental health or mental health generally was still a very taboo subject, but nobody talked about it did they?
Bruce: No I grew up in the 50s and 60s you know - I was one to 10 in the 50s and my parents left for California when I was 18 or 19 so that was the extent of which I knew my dad and those were his very troubled years and like I said, the mental illness ran through my families. I had aunts very, very ill. I had cousins who were very ill. And I just got used to it as being, that was my family, and these were the people that I loved. But no one got any help whatsoever. You know, there was no medication, there was no interactions with any psychological help and people were really simply left on their own. You know it was just there – nothing was known about it and so everybody just suffered through it.
Scott: I think there was a lot of the unknown, a lot of people telling you to cheer up and pull yourself together. And no info…
Bruce: And blue-collar life which we led. Nobody knew a psychologist. I grew up in a neighbourhood where nobody had ever known a lawyer, or I didn’t know anyone who had ever been on an airplane. Everyone stuck close to town…no one left town, and no one left the neighbourhood. So these were things that just were not dealt with and were simply ignored.
Scott: You did manage to get some help though, didn't you?
Bruce: Yeah.
Scott: And it was absolutely surprising to me, but also fascinating as someone that's been through it a little bit to watch your journey with depression and it's something that I did honestly didn't know about and I know that you had some incredible people around you helping you, but it was really hard to talk about then and you certainly didn't do it publicly.
Bruce: Yeah I was very lucky you know and Jeremy really captures sort of my deterioration at that time when I've I guess I had my first breakdown really is what it was. And though I didn't know what was going on, I was lucky enough at that point to have a relationship with Mr. Landau, John Landau, and he's had experience in this area and got me to some folks that really were able to help me out at the time. And I was totally embarrassed. And for years, I would almost disguise myself before going into the psychiatrist's office that had my baseball hat on and my glasses and I'm looking around and I'm sneaking in as fast as I can.
Scott: Because you were famous.
Bruce: Yeah, and just because, you know, I was grown up to believe that it was embarrassing to ask for that kind of help and need that kind of help. And it took me years to get used to just feeling fine and confident about walking into the office. It was so forbidden in the world that I grew up in that it took me a long time to get used to it, and now it has been a big part of…half of my life.
Bruce Springsteen on what it was like watching the movie for the first time with his sisters
Scott: Bruce, what have your family said about this movie?
Bruce: Well, it was interesting. My parents have passed, but I still have a reasonably big family and the most important thing is, I have two sisters. One who is a year younger than me so grew up with me through all of these experiences and I didn’t know what she was going to think you know…because the film it’s a little tough. And she came in and she sat next to me, she held my hand the whole film. And as I have said before, she said it's wonderful that we have this. The film really honours my family. It honours the struggles and the experience that we went through and I got a chance to walk through my reproduction of my grandmother's house which meant a great, great deal to me. I grew up the first six, seven years of my life in that house with my parents and I still visit in my dreams at least twice a year. So to be able to walk into a facsimile and…was quite a wonderful thing for me and my little sister and my older sister really loved the film.
Scott: There’s so much great music in this film. You hear Dobie Gray ‘Gray Drift Away’ right at the very start. A fantastic soundtrack from that time, the 70s early 80s. Bruce, did you have a say in that music soundtrack?
Bruce: Not really. Scott Cooper picked all the needle drops. I don’t think I changed a single thing. He really tried to get music from time adjacent to the period we were in. That’s what was playing on the radio when that was happening. He did a good job.
Scott: Jeremy you had to learn the harmonica and how to sing for this film?
Jeremy: Yeah, I learnt how to sing. The harmonica I learnt how to blow around a little bit.
Scott: And a bit of guitar.
Jeremy Allen White on how he prepared to play Bruce Springsteen
Scott: Jeremy, obviously we know Bruce the incredible performer and musician. But getting into the mind of not Bruce Springsteen but Bruce the real person. How was that for you? The offstage Bruce.
Jeremy: You know, I think in the beginning it's very hard. I had to ask myself what do I have in common with Bruce Springsteen and that’s a very difficult thing to do. Or was for me. I think getting to know him and as Bruce shared some moments and feelings that he was having around that time, it wasn’t such a sort of strain to draw a parallel in times. In my own life and periods I have had, struggles I have had, doubts I have had, anxieties and fears and all these things. And so, I think my goal was just to sort of bring up those honest things in myself and bring them as close to the surface as I could to be in service of Bruce’s story really.
Bruce: The choices Jeremy made, you know he was drawn to the psychology of the character. I mean, he worked from the internal out which was really essential to making the picture work. He had to understand the person. The film if you see it, is not a replay of my career… You have got this… It's really… I mean, when I watch it I just get the sense that I am watching a film about a guy you know.
Scott: Do you?
Bruce: Yeah.
Scott: Almost, like it's not you.
Bruce: Yeah, who happens to play some music.
Bruce explains why he knew Jeremy would be able to play this role after watching his character in The Bear
Scott: Jeremy, can you remember when you got asked to play the role? Was it an immediate yes?
Jeremy: Yeah. I had to be cautious because I want to be sure I am the right person. I want to be sure I have something I can give that’s going to work. I very quickly addressed… You know I told him I don’t know how to sing and play the guitar - are you sure you don’t want somebody that can? And he said no, you can learn those things and I think you have something maybe folks can’t learn. So, I took my time and wanted to make sure that I had what it took, but then I heard that I think Bruce had seen my work on The Bear and thought that I had something that could really lend itself to him and this period in his life that we are telling the story - and I said I will give it a shot really.
Bruce: The thing that I saw in The Bear was that Jeremy had this complex inner life and I knew that the film was going to rise or fall on the camera to being able to read that from the main actor and interpret it. I had seen him on the show and I knew that it was something that the camera perceived from him very very well and that that was the basis of the film. Well you can learn a few songs on the guitar and you can…I was kind of surprised how well he did and how well he sang.
Scott: Incredibly well.
Bruce: But the capturing of the psychology was going to be the main thing and also Jeremy had a certain physical presence and physical movement and natural swagger that comes with if you want to be a rock musician. So, right from the top he was the first name I mentioned to Scott to play the part.
Scott: That’s awesome isn’t it Jeremy.
Jeremy: Yeah amazing. Really amazing.
Jeremy reveals how he stole the remastered Nebraska album off Jimmy Kimmel’s desk
Scott: Bruce, how much persuasion did it take for this movie to happen?
Bruce: Not that much because I am old. So, you do get a lot freer with your choices as you get older. So, I said hey let’s give it a shot.
Scott: Bruce, you have remastered the Nebraska album. Jeremy, you have already got a copy?
Jeremy: Yeah, yeah. We were in New York a couple of weeks ago and did Jimmy Kimmel and we were talking about the movie and the record and I stole it off Jimmy’s desk when I left. It's in LA now.
