Why Deliver Me From Nowhere Cut One Of Bruce Springsteen's Biggest Hits, Despite Jeremy Allen White Recording

Jeremy Allen White performs multiple Bruce Springsteen songs while portraying the music legend in the new biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, but the film’s playlist does not include White’s rendition of the Boss’s iconic track “Dancing In the Dark.”

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley, Deliver Me From Nowhere director Scott Cooper confirmed that White did record a rendition of Springsteen’s 1984 hit song, but explained why it was left out of the movie:

Look, we record a lot of things and a few that aren’t in the film, but I think the easy route would be to tell the story of, maybe not easy, but more accepting on a wider scale, Born in the USA or the Born To Run story that most people know. But so few people know what Bruce was suffering through during this most painful chapter of his life. So to start the music off with Born to Run and then show the stark contrast of Nebraska tells the story of Bruce Springsteen, that’s why I did that.

Deliver Me From Nowhere focuses on the recording of Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska, whose spare production and bleak lyrics marked a departure from his earlier, more anthemic sound. Springsteen’s 1984 album Born in the USA, which included “Dancing in the Dark,” saw the singer achieving his greatest commercial success, but the Nebraska album is generally more acclaimed today.

Jeremy Allen White Wants “Dancing In The Dark” To Be On Deliver Me From Nowhere’s Director’s Cut

“Dancing in the Dark” may have missed the cut for Deliver Me From Nowhere, being representative of Springsteen’s output for the chart-friendly period after he had exorcised some of his demons on Nebraska, but the film’s star still hopes the public will get to see his rendition of Born in the USA’s biggest hit single.

In an interview with ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley, White acknowledged recording “Dancing in the Dark,” and concurred with the opinion that it should be included in a Deliver Me From Nowhere Director’s Cut somewhere down the road. White also discussed the thrill of performing Springsteen’s songs in front of a crowd of 300 people, with The Boss himself in attendance:

It’s a blast, man. But I have to say the most fun I had was in this room on stage here at the Stone Pony. It was Lucille, and we performed some other songs that didn’t end up making it, but I was here performing for one whole day, pretty much from morning to night, and we had a group of 300 background actors and they were so excited, and part of that was because Bruce Springsteen was sitting right here and introduced me before I came on, and yeah, it was incredible to feel the energy of 300 people being on that small stage in the small space. It really allowed me to get lost for a couple minutes, which is the goal as an actor, but sometimes it’s hard to do. Yeah.

The Deliver Me From Nowhere soundtrack mostly features White’s renditions of songs from Nebraska, as would be expected, but does also include performances of non-Nebraska Springsteen songs “Born in the USA” and “I’m On Fire.”

Unlike last year’s well-reviewed Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, the new Springsteen movie is not exactly on-fire with critics, and currently sits at a disappointing 66% on Rotten Tomatoes (the Dylan movie is at 82%, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture).

ScreenRant’s Deliver Me From Nowhere review called the film “a boring biopic of artistic perfection,” but did give kudos to the movie’s star, saying “White is especially effective at portraying Springsteen’s famed on-stage persona, playing him like a man possessed.”

Variety reports that Deliver Me From Nowhere is tracking to gross up to $10 million in its opening weekend, which is about on par with A Complete Unknown’s $11 million domestic opening. The Dylan film went on to gross $140 million worldwide.