TIFF 2024: Bruce Springsteen takes fans backstage, talks mortality in new film

By Nivedita Balu

TORONTO (Reuters) - "Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band," which made its premiere in Toronto this week, gives fans a glimpse at the band's creative process against the backdrop of the current world tour, which had to be interrupted because of the nearly 75-year-old rock star's health.

The documentary, directed by Thom Zimny and narrated by "The Boss" himself, captures conversations and the band's bond that resonates in their music, while Springsteen touches upon age, the present and mortality. In the film, Springsteen's wife and E Street bandmate, Patti Scialfa, reveals that she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.

"There's a philosophical thing about a person who's going to be 75 in two weeks - mortality. The film captures that... It's not a genre film. It's a Bruce film," longtime manager Jon Landau said.

"Every night is real. He gets out there and he tries to put his mind, body and soul right in the moment... And he feels like if he's experiencing it, then the audience will experience it," Landau added.

The film begins with rare images of the band members barely out of boyhood, then contrasts that immediately with a present day challenge, their first tour in six years as they entertain thousands of fans across continents.

The ongoing tour across North America and Europe is scheduled to go on until July 2025 after dates were postponed as Springsteen dealt with a peptic ulcer that took him off the road for a while.

The New Jersey-born rocker, who turns 75 on Sept. 23, released his first studio album - "Greetings From Asbury Park" - in 1973 and since has sold more than 140 million records worldwide, and collected 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Best Original Song Oscar, as well as a special Tony for the Broadway show about his life and career.

"Road Diary" is the latest in a longtime collaboration as Zimny has directed about a dozen films with Springsteen in 24 years, in addition to some 40 music videos.

"They're a garage band, but at the same time they're getting ready to conquer the world with this new tour... it's very exciting to be a fly on the wall with it all," said Zimny, who won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for "Springsteen on Broadway" streamed by Netflix

The new documentary is distributed by Disney.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Bill Berkrot)