In a short drive from our campus, movie history was made. During the week of Dec. 9, Asbury Park was transported back to the 1980s as the filming for the Bruce Springsteen bio-doc “Deliver Me From Nowhere.”
Based on Warren Zanes’s book “Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska,” “Deliver Me From Nowhere” follows the making of Springsteen’s 1982 album “Nebraska.” Asbury Park was a huge part of Springsteen’s upbringing, it was only fitting that this film featured the place that raised him.
During the week, Springsteen watched the filming and interacted with fans. Springsteen is being played by Emmy winner Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear,” “Shameless”), as he was also spotted on the Asbury Park beaches wearing the iconic Springsteen leather jacket.
Meghan Kelly, Monmouth alumni for the Department of Communication, had the opportunity to be an extra on set. “I was on set for two days. I have been an extra in other movies filmed in the area, so I was familiar with the process but this was by far the biggest set I’d been on. We all had a specific wardrobe fitting, hair styling, and makeup, which is usually not the case when you’re doing background. They really paid attention to details. The days are long- the first was about 16 hours and the second was around 10 hours, but it’s all exciting,” Kelly explained.
Kelly revealed that she worked on two scenes, one consisting of a concert scene inside the Stone Pony with 150 other extras and a scene outside in Asbury Park with about 50 extras.
During her experience, Kelly had the special opportunity to interact with The Boss himself. “Bruce Springsteen was there, on the first day he talked to us all for a bit and thanked us for coming. The second day he was just walking around the set,” she said. “None of us interacted with [White] directly, he was very focused between takes, and everyone was respectful of that. Steven Spielberg is not the director but he was there too, casually.”
Kelly concluded, “It was such a cool experience and something students should definitely take advantage of if they can. Even if you’re not interested in acting or the film industry, you get to see how much work goes into making a movie.”
“Deliver Me From Nowhere” is set to hit theaters in 2025, so don’t miss the opportunity to see this true story that unfolded just 20 minutes away from our campus.
