A new documentary starring US singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen will feature his reflections on the idea of mortality.
The documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band, is billed as a look at how the band create their live performances, including footage of rehearsals, backstage moments and personal reflections from Born In The USA singer Springsteen.
“There’s a lot about mortality and life and death and rock n’ roll and how it all fits together,” Springsteen told the PA news agency at a UK screening of the Disney+ film.
The documentary features his wife and E Street bandmate Patti Scialfa, who says she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, in 2018.
Springsteen told PA: “We really hadn’t done a road tour documentary, let the fans see how it all gets put together so that’s what we decided to do with this one.”
He also described US filmmaker and long-term collaborator Thom Zimny as a “very important guy in my life”, having worked with him over the past 24 years on several concert films, including Bruce Springsteen’s Letter To You in 2020.
“He is emotionally in sync with me in a way that I don’t know anyone else could be, and he’s a great artist,” Springsteen, 75, told PA.
Zimny said that his approach for this film was “to be a fly on the wall”.
“Take in everything that was happening and try not to miss any details and keep up with his band, his band has been together for 50 years,” he told PA.
“I knew that there was a story coming back after the world being shut down and not performing for six years, that’s one element of the story, but I also started seeing things every day that was telling me that there was a bigger story about how Bruce was building the set list, the story he was telling.
“My approach to it was be really prepared, but be ready for anything.”
Zimny has described Road Diary as “facing the ideas of mortality and our paths but also a celebration of the joy that rock n’ roll and live shows bring”.
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band will premiere on Hulu and Disney+ on October 25.
