Following The Bear is The Boss: In the upcoming movie, Bruce Springsteen will be played by Jeremy Allen White. Who is the new Hollywood high-flyer?

The face is special. Jeremy Allen White doesn't have a typical actor's face. Actors' faces are characterized by clearly defined chins and jawlines. A sharp gaze that expresses determination is also important. Tom Cruise and DiCaprio, these are actors' faces. Jeremy Allen White, on the other hand, has a slightly receding chin. His mouth is narrow, and his small teeth are barely visible. His complexion is also rather unflattering, pale.

Added to that is the "out of bed" look: Sure, when he's in front of the camera, the makeup artists decide on the styling, but this man naturally gives off a radiant impression. A notorious sense of being overwhelmed is written all over his face.

If you wanted to compare him to a star, it would be Gene Wilder. White is reminiscent of the classic film comedian with whom you always felt like everything was too much for him. Only Gene Wilder played with it: He used his clumsy appearance for a comedic interlude. Jeremy Allen White doesn't come across as particularly funny.

But those are the two options you have in Hollywood: Either you have the obvious star qualities. Or you deal with the fact that you don't have them with self-irony. What's special about Jeremy Allen White is that he has neither one nor the other.

Nevertheless, for a long time, no Hollywood actor was considered as hot as the 34-year-old. This, of course, also has something to do with his current campaign as an underwear model for Calvin Klein. His abs are brilliant. The relief above his groin appears to be punched out. The skin is ridged like a steak fresh from the grill. No fat at all. Perhaps that was the idea behind the Calvin Klein campaign: Because if there's anything you associate with white, it's with beef.

Original Beef of Chicagoland is the name of the Chicago sandwich shop he transforms into a fine-dining establishment as top chef Carmy Berzatto in "The Bear." He's been there for four seasons, and a fifth is planned. The temperature in the restaurant kitchen is constantly hellish, and Chef Carmy is constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"The Bear" is a series that draws its suspense from whether sous chef Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) will succeed in preparing the cavatelli pomodoro in under three minutes. Fine dining is a thriller where every second counts.

Or you marvel at the development of head pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), whose dessert creations soon involve pear oil and sushi paper. But the dishes are merely side dishes. It's about a dysfunctional kitchen crew that has to pull together.

Carmy suffers the most from the stress. At the same time, he is the one who causes the stress. He needs the noise to drown out the turmoil in his head. Ever since his brother killed himself, he's been off track. This is the character's psychological disposition, which Jeremy Allen White brilliantly conveys.

Carmy can't sit still. Neither could young Jeremy Allen. The boy from Brooklyn was struggling in school, so his parents sent him to sports. Baseball, soccer, lacrosse, wrestling. He liked everything. But his favorite sport was dancing.

And upon closer inspection, you realize that it's his physical tension that sets him apart as an actor. Carmy stands firmly anchored in the eye of the storm. His abs are ripped. While at the same time, he appears fragile because he looks so tired. The contrast is what makes him special.

The eyes are also central. Those outrageous blue eyes, capable of begging so innocently. Even as troublemaker Lip Gallagher in the ribald TV series "Shameless" (2011 to 2021), which provided the young Jeremy Allen White with his first steady income, he looked so innocent that everything was forgiven.

And when, as Carmy, he smokes a well-earned cigarette out in the alley after a brutal evening in the kitchen (before he switches to chewing gum in Season 3), you just want to hug him. With his dirty apron and his tired expression, he suddenly has something of the star about him. Not a slick contemporary Hollywood star, but a working-class rebel, like James Dean used to embody.

And that makes him predestined for the big task ahead: In the movie "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" (released in October), White will play the role of the rock star who made a name for himself with his working-class anthems on the 1982 album "Nebraska." The film will be about the creation of this record.

Musician films are very popular. Most recently, there was the Bob Dylan biopic with Timothée Chalamet, and before that, a film about Bob Marley. Robbie Williams played a monkey in "Better Man"; "Elvis" was in theaters, "Rocketman" about Elton John, "Bohemian Rhapsody" about Queen, and the Beatles are also in the works.

It's no surprise that more and more musician biographies are being shown in cinemas. The cinematic circular economy recycles anything that already has a fan base. It could be a superhero, Barbie, or Bruce Springsteen. Now, one might suspect that a movie about a musician is the longer arm of their marketing department. But hopefully, there's more to it than that, especially in Springsteen's case.

The film was directed by Scott Cooper, who had already proven himself with a superb folk-rock film, "Crazy Heart" (2009). And Jeremy Allen White makes a phenomenal impression in the opening clips. You immediately buy into his portrayal of the young star who is still finding himself. "I'm trying to find some truth in all the noise," is his key line as Bruce Springsteen in the trailer. It's a line that could have come from the boss, Carmy. The Bear has become The Boss.