Stephen Graham broke down over Bruce Springsteen's moving messages about portrayal of his father in biopic
"I was crying reading the text. It was beautiful."
Hot off the back of starring in A Thousand Blows and Adolescence, Stephen Graham will soon be seen in Deliver Me from Nowhere, the Bruce Springsteen biopic starring Jeremy Allen White.
Graham plays Springsteen's father Douglas in the film, which is directed by Scott Cooper, and the actor has now spoken about the Boss's emotional response to his performance.
Speaking on the 500th episode of Soundtracking with Edith Bowman, Graham said that he "listened to Bruce's audio book" in preparation, and that he took something away which he put into his take on Douglas.
Graham said of a conversation he had with Bruce: "I said to him, 'Are you aware that when you speak about your dad in your book, you kind of change the tone of your voice and you take on this persona?'. And he was like, 'Really?'
"I said, 'Yeah'. And I said, 'And that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to just basically mimic that sound and that persona that you do and inhabit it and try and create my own character.'"
After watching Graham perform one of his scenes, Springsteen then texted the actor "the most gorgeous texts I've ever had in my life".
"I get to do a scene with Jeremy Allen," Graham continued. "Working with him is like working with the presence of Al Pacino and De Niro back in the day. He's marvellous, that fella. He's unbelievable. He's brilliant, but he's a wonderful man as well."
He said: "So I was dead serious and we did this scene and it was a really beautiful little scene. It was lovely, but I had to get the flight. So, I had to rip the prosthetics off and I'm in the car and I'm racing to get to the airport and I got this text."
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Graham added: "His text just said, 'Thank you so much. You know, my father passed away a while ago and I felt like I saw him today and thank you for giving me that memory'. And I was crying reading the text, do you know what I mean? Oh mate. It was beautiful. You couldn't ask for anything more."
Deliver Me from Nowhere will also star Jeremy Strong, Odessa Young, Paul Walter Hauser, Gaby Hoffmann, Johnny Cannizzaro, Harrison Gilbertson, Marc Maron, David Krumholtz and Chris Jaymes.
Graham's show Adolescence has been met with critical acclaim, as well as incredible viewership, breaking records in the UK in its first week of release and becoming a global hit.
Read more:
- Adolescence star Stephen Graham in tears remembering sharing incredible career moment with his dad
- Netflix reveals secrets behind Adolescence's ambitious and technical single-shot filming
Deliver Me from Nowhere is coming soon.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
