Diksha Sundriyal
In ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,’ the audience gets an intimate portrait of Bruce Springsteen’s early days of stardom. The film picks up in the early 80s, after the roaring success of the Boss’ album, ‘The River.’ When the tour concludes, he returns home to New Jersey to start working on his next project. While the studio wants him to make something that carries the momentum of his previous works, he makes a hard departure and completely changes the sound of his music, delivering something deeply personal and visceral. At the same time, he also struggles with his mental health, especially as he looks back at his turbulent childhood. During this time, he relies on the people closest to him to get him through the days of darkness, and his best friend, Matt Delia, becomes one of the few people he can truly lean on. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Matt Delia and Bruce Springsteen’s Friendship Has Survived the Test of Time
‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ takes creative liberties with certain aspects of Bruce Springsteen’s life, but his friendship with Matt Delia has been portrayed with a sincerity that mirrors their genuine relationship. The duo have been friends from a young age, and they continue to be an important part of each other’s lives even now. While Springsteen has become an iconic figure in music, with his life becoming a subject of public scrutiny, Matt has preserved his privacy. He still lives in New Jersey and owns a garage. He has never come forward to discuss his life or his friendship with Bruce. What’s known about him to the world comes from what the singer has talked of over the years, especially in his autobiography, ‘Born to Run,’ where he described Matt as a mechanic with the soul of a poet. The singer also discussed the time when, after completing work on ‘Nebraska’, he and Matt took a road trip to Los Angeles.
During this time, Bruce was suffering from depression and was having a hard time dealing with his situation. At the same time, Matt had been through a brutal breakup, and he reportedly spent the trip holding on to a teddy bear. Despite what was going on in their personal lives, the duo were there for each other. While Bruce tried to cheer up his friend, Matt stayed by Bruce’s side, knowing how much he was struggling. After the trip ended, the singer sought professional help and has since credited Matt with being the support system he needed. While Matt has refrained from coming into the public eye, he did become a part of the film’s process by opening up to the film’s writer-director, Scott Cooper, and actor, Harrison Sloan Gilbertson, who plays him in the movie. Gilbertson revealed that he got to meet Matt at his house in New Jersey, where he spent a day with him, talking to him and observing him.
The conversations with him allowed the actor a unique insight into the friendship between them, and he found that Matt is very protective of Bruce. After meeting Matt, the actor also found the nuances for his character. He found a way to “add some of his colour so he was more than just the guy on a road trip with Bruce.” Scott Cooper, too, noticed the difference in how Bruce is around his lifelong friend, as compared to the persona he has for the world. The director attended the singer’s birthday party, which is where he observed him with his best friend and got a sense of the familiarity they have developed over the decades they have known each other. All these details fed into the movie, as the filmmakers tried to present a realistic picture of Matt and Bruce’s friendship, and how much the former’s presence means in the singer’s life.
Read More: Is Faye Romano Based on Bruce Springsteen’s Real Ex-Girlfriend?
