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For fans of the actor Jeremy Allen White — our guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, which was recorded in front of 500 film students at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts — it may be time to retire “Yes, Chef!” in favor of “Okay, Boss!”
That’s because the 34-year-old actor, who shot to stardom playing Carmy Berzatto, a cook, on FX’s The Bear — for which he personally has won two Emmys, three Golden Globe Awards and three SAG Awards — is now garnering rave reviews and awards buzz for his portrayal of Bruce Springsteen in Scott Cooper’s film Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. In the dark drama, White depicts the singer/songwriter during the years between the releases of his hit albums Born to Run in 1975 and Born in the USA in 1984, when he was grappling with personal demons and making 1982’s Nebraska.
Over the course of this conversation, White reflected on his entire life and career, including how he seriously pursued dancing as an adolescent, and why he walked away from it to focus instead on acting; how his 11 seasons on the Showtime dramedy Shameless shaped him as an actor; and just how close he came to taking another project instead of The Bear.
Speaking of The Bear, he addressed the long-running debate about whether the show should be classified as a comedy (the category in which it has been submitted for awards shows) or a drama (the category in which many feel it belongs, given that it’s not exactly a barrel of laughs) by putting forth an interesting suggestion: “I think it’s a dramedy. You have to choose one Movie News when you’re in this in-between space, and I think there should be another category at a certain point. Television has changed so drastically in the last few decades, and the structure of the awards system has remained the same, and that feels strange to me.”
White also dished about the future of The Bear. Will its recently-announced fifth season be its last? And will he remain a part of the show if it continues beyond that? “The fourth season was going to be the last,” he explains. “Chris [Storer, the show’s creator and co-showrunner] called me on Christmas Eve last year and was like, ‘We’re gonna do some more.’ And, I don’t know, that could happen again around this holiday time. There’s no plans for it to be the last. There’s no plans right now for us to do more. I think it’s just all dependent on what Chris wants to do. But if it was up to me? I just feel so lucky to read Chris’ words, and also to work with these actors who’ve become some of my best friends, so I’d do it for a very long time.”
As for Springsteen, specifically, he discussed why the offer to play the iconic music artist in a big studio film wasn’t an immediate “yes” for him; how he learned to sing and play guitar over just six months; why he was thrilled to get to meet and question Springsteen, but wasn’t always excited to see him on set; what he makes of Springsteen’s reaction to the film; plus more.
White also teased a little about another high-profile film project, one for which he has been traveling to Vancouver quite frequently of late: Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, which he describes as “a sort of continuation of the story of The Social Network” that is “more about the effects of Facebook on us.” The latter project reunites him with his Springsteen costar Jeremy Strong. Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg, while White plays a journalist.
You can hear the entire conversation via the audio player near the top of this post or any major podcast app. Please also take a moment to leave us a rating and review, which helps other to discover the podcast.
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Scott Feinberg
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