Deliver Me from Nowhere’ showing in Freehold

There were cheers — and a few teers — at the 2 p.m. preview showing of “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” Thursday, Oct. 23, at the AMC Freehold 14 in Freehold.

“It was very powerful,” said Freehold native Jim Mavroleon, who played baseball with Springsteen as a boy and later owned the Monmouth Queen Diner in Eatontown. “I remember when I saw his father that time at the diner and that performance (by actor Stephen Graham, who plays Springsteen’s father) and the relationship he had with Bruce.”

Springsteen’s relationship with his dad, Douglas Springsteen, and how it affected the adult Bruce, is a central theme of the movie. Fans cheers and clapped at the end.

“These things were under cover,” said Mavroleon, who attend the movie with fellow Freehold native and baseball player Tom Brereton. “We never knew any of this stuff that was going on. We were just kids.”

“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” written and directed by Scott Cooper, stars Jeremy Allen White as the Boss. The movie, based on the book “Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska” by Warren Zanes, was filmed primarily in New Jersey, including in Asbury Park and Freehold.

Springsteen battles challenges with his mental health as he tries to resolve long-simmering issues with his father while recording and releasing his 1982 solo album “Nebraska.”

“Of all the episodes in your life to want to dramatize, to want to share that with the world is remarkable and it speaks to that larger point of who Bruce is and how much he gives to all of us,” said Freehold writer and historian Kevin Coyne, who was also at the screening.

An affect the film might have is removing a degree of stigma from mental illness, Coyne said.

“It’s almost like he has a mission where he wants people to say you’re depressed, it’s OK. And if you don’t get along with your father, then maybe try to,” Coyne added.

The 2 p.m. showing had some empty seats, but later screenings sold better, according to the theater’s website. There were 11 showings on Thursday at the AMC Freehold 14. Previews also took place at the ShowRoom Cinema in Asbury Park, the Basie Center Cinemas in Red Bank, and Regal and AMC theaters in New Jersey and across the country.

The film officially opens Friday, Oct. 24.

“I’m a big Bruce fan and a Jersey girl,” said Suzy Domenick of Point Pleasant before the Freehold showing. “So to me this is not just about Bruce but it’s about Jersey. I planned this with a few friends so we could see it before everybody else. He draws you in and makes you feel like you’re a part of his family.”

Susan Migliore, a former resident of Holmdel, drove up to the theater for the movie from her current home in Richmond, Virginia.

“We grew up listening to him.” Migliore said. “When he was in the farmhouse on Telegraph Road (in Holmdel), I used to ride my pony to the farmhouse and stand on the pony’s back and look in the windows. I was a kid — great, great memories.”

Migliore attended the showing with her mom’s cousin, Joan Michaud of Holmdel. They had pizza at Federici’s Family Restaurant in Freehold on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

“This movie was filmed in places I have great memories of — Freehold, Asbury,” Migliore said. “Pretty darn excited.”

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere draws cheers in Freehold