Jeremy Allen White is getting ready for Thanksgiving. He’ll spend it at a gathering of about 30 people at a friend’s place in Los Angeles. His contribution will be a green bean casserole, a sweet potato side and a salad.
He admits the pressure to cook well has gained a lot of steam since becoming a household name for his award-winning work as Carmy on “The Bear.”
“There was Thanksgiving, after the first season, where I cooked for everybody,” he tells me. “There was Christmas when I cooked for about 30 before shooting the first season. That was after culinary school and the one-on-one training and in and out of kitchens. Not that it was bad, but everybody was like, ‘OK, yeah, it’s real.’ Yeah, there are definitely eyes on me.”
But what happens when someone asks White what he thinks of their cooking? He’s too nice to ever criticize. “I would never guilt someone,” he says. “I haven’t earned that.”
What he has earned lately is awards buzz for his work as Bruce Springsteen in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.” Director Scott Cooper’s drama chronicles the making of the Boss’ 1982 album, “Nebraska,” a time in the singer-songwriter’s life when he was battling depression and struggling with other mental health issues.
As awards season has kicked in, White has also taken on playing another real person. He’s starring as Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz in the Aaron Sorkin-written and directed “The Social Network” sequel, “The Social Reckoning.” White’s “Springsteen” co-star Jeremy Strong portrays Mark Zuckerberg.
And then there’s “Star Wars.” White voices Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta, in the upcoming feature, “The Mandalorian & Grogu.”
I caught up with White on Monday afternoon at the Variety offices before he drove himself to Santa Barbara for a “Deliver Me From Nowhere” screening and a conversation hosted by Oprah Winfrey.
The last time we spoke about Springsteen, you broke the news with me that you were going to be doing your own singing. You hadn’t even met Bruce yet. You had only been texting with him. Now you’re friends with Bruce Springsteen. He has such an affection for you.
It’s amazing. He’s so lovely. He’s gotten in front of it in such a beautiful way that he didn’t have to. I feel really lucky.
Does this mean you, a Brooklyn boy, are now a Jersey boy?
No, no. I can’t go that far. Be careful there. I had never spent very much time in New Jersey. But it’s such a beautiful state. I love it.
There are all those Academy voters in Jersey.
Exactly. We love New Jersey.
Scott Cooper and others from the film have told me that when Bruce first heard you singing, he thought it was himself.
We tricked him for a moment. I think the first song he heard was “Mansion on a Hill.” I remember him sending me a message: ‘You sound like me, but not just like me. You’re making the song your own. And I want that to be what this process of making the film feels like.” He gave me such great permission very early on that kind of released me from this idea of like, do I need to do this, do I need to do that? Do I need a prosthetic?
Did you really think about using prosthetics?
It was something Scott and I spoke about. I was asking about maybe a dental contraption for his underbite. It was definitely a part of the conversation. Ultimately, Scott and I wanted this performance to be one that was internalized in that we were going from the inside out, not from the outside in. Let’s not distract people with these pieces.
When did you know you got it as Bruce?
Never. I never feel that way on any job. And I think especially for this one, I never felt like I could necessarily pat myself on the back in any way. It was ongoing. I’m visiting Bruce at a very strange, lonely, sad time in his life so I tried to stay as close to those sorts of feelings as I could. The process of making the movie wasn’t for me one of joy necessarily. I wouldn’t allow myself to feel like I ever got it because so much of this story and period is about a kind of doubt and fear and the future.
As an artist, you know those feelings.
Yeah, of course. Very familiar. There was never a day I went home and said, “You nailed it.”
Do you ever feel that on any projects?
Not really. There are days where you have a certain amount of confidence, but I don’t think you need to feel like your work is done. That’s one of the greatest parts of this work is I don’t think you should ever feel like you’ve got it figured out because that would take the fun out of trying.
Are you driven by fear though?
Driven by pressure, sure. I was on the show “Shameless” for a very long time; the first four years, I felt connected and driven. Then, not by any fault of the show, but for any show that goes on for many years, I think it becomes difficult for an actor to feel really connected. There are some seasons on that show where I had an attitude of, “I figured this out.” That allows you to show up and be a little bit lazy and I don’t ever want to do that. On these jobs, and especially in film work where you only have a couple months, I don’t think you should go home and say, “I’ve got this figured out.” It should always be in pursuit of something.
If you felt a sort of laziness after four seasons of “Shameless,” how do you make sure that doesn’t happen with “The Bear” as you’re going into Season 5?
It’s different. My responsibility to that show feels different. I mean, it’s an ensemble like “Shameless,” but I don’t feel like I carried the same weight as [William H. Macy or Emmy Rossum] did on “Shameless.” There were some years on “Shameless” where I felt more connected to Philip Gallagher and there were some years I didn’t. I feel really connected to Carmy and I feel really connected to [“The Bear” creator] Christopher Storer in a way that probably just due to my age I didn’t feel with [“Shameless” showrunner] John Wells always. Those were very separate things, kind of the story coming at me as an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old, versus the story coming at me from Chris, who I really consider a friend and a peer.
When do you start shooting Season 5 of “The Bear”?
Jan. 5 or something like that. Very soon.
I didn’t know Jabba the Hutt had a son.
Neither did I.
They say, “We want you as Jabba the Hutt’s son.” How do you begin to prepare?
I’ve been a fan of Jon Favreau’s for a very long time. “Swingers” and “Made” had a tremendous effect on me as a young man, a young actor. We met at a party. I told him that, and he was like, “I have something I want to talk to you about. Can I call you?” It was the next day and he was talking about “Mandalorian,” and I said, “It’s a great show. You do a great job. I’d known Pedro Pascal for a little bit, and he’s great and has fun on it and he loves you.” He was like, “I want you to be in it.” Fantastic, of course. And then he started explaining it and started talking about Rotta. I’d never done voice work. There isn’t any stop-motion work or anything physical like that. I was excited about doing a job that is in this world of “Star Wars,” a world that I have admired for a very long time. I was also excited about doing the movie that my daughters [Ezer, 7, and Dolores, 4, whom he shares with his ex-wife Addison Timlin] can go and see.
How do you find your Rotta voice or is it just your voice?
I did a bit of a voice, but then I think Jon also ended up tweaking it a little bit. It was maybe a year ago. I did a couple sessions. I’ve not seen any of it.
Do you find parts of yourself in Rotta?
Yeah, for sure. I’m not gonna tell you too much about it, but yes.
The “Social Network” sequel. Playing another real person. How much time did you spend with Jeff Horwitz?
None. I had spoken to Aaron early on. I’d come off the Bruce movie and I told him that I’m kind of hesitant about going right into playing someone else who’s a real person because this was heavy. It was a lot of responsibility. He was like, “Well, this person is not as known.” I was like, “Of course, but still, it’s a real person. They’re around, they’re out there.” I was like, “How important is it for you for us to get together? Do you want me to look like him and do you want me to sound like him?” He said, “I’ve spoken to Jeff a lot. He’s given us his blessing. This is my story, my understanding of these characters. I want you to serve my script, not the world.” So that was nice to be able to approach it like that and getting to do Sorkin’s words.
That’s a lot of memorizing.
It’s a lot, but once you do it, that’s kind of the whole job. There’s not a lot of guesswork. Everything is so clear. The rhythm is so clear. It felt like a nice break for me. Jeff is very internally sound. The issues that these characters are dealing with on an external level are massive, but Jeff himself is pretty kind of settled. There was something nice about not having to do a tremendous amount of emotional work, and just being available to my fellow actors and being true to Sorkin’s words.
Has the movie changed your views about social media?
No. I’ve had a certain curiosity and sort of a questioning of my dependency on this stuff for a long time.
Are you a scroller?
I can be.
It’s bad. I think you know that I’m in recovery, and sometimes I’m scrolling and those dopamine hits are real.
The worst is when you catch yourself and you’re like, “This is fucking dumb,” and you put your phone down and you pick up a book, or you even turn on the TV, and then five minutes later, you’re like [White picks up his phone]. And then you’re like, “Fuck!” [White motions to throw his phone across the room].
I’ll come home at night and say, “Let me just sit on the couch for a second.” And then an hour later, I’m like what did I just do?
I’ll delete it every once and awhile. When I’m working, I’ll delete it. But it’s hard. You can’t just get rid of it. It’s infiltrated our lives.
Are you scared about your kids using social media?
Yeah. Obviously they don’t know about any of that stuff now, but I want to keep them away from it as long as we can. Even if they do get into it, they can at least remember a time when it wasn’t a part of their lives. I have a feeling and a hope that there is going to be a bit of a backslide. There’s something happening now with teenagers, where it is cooler to have less followers, to not post a lot, to not be so connected. If there’s enough of a revolution of that with young people that get into their teens and 20s, who knows?
I think you should lead the revolution.
I’m no revolutionary. I have an iPhone 12.
You do not have a 12.
I think so. It’s very old. It’s very broken. No case. I like how this one works so poorly. It keeps me off of it. I went to Europe and I downloaded eSim card and now I’m not able to use internet on my phone unless I’m on Wi-Fi. I actually can’t go on Instagram or Twitter or online unless I have Wi-Fi. So unless I’m home, I’m not gonna ask for Wi-Fi wherever I’m at, so I don’t use it as much.
Source : deadline
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