Jeremy Allen White Reveals 1 Bruce Springsteen Song He’d ‘Return’ to When ‘Feeling Lost or Unsure’ (Exclusive)

When Jeremy Allen White’s mind was dancing in the dark while filming Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, the actor had a particular go-to Bruce Springsteen song to get himself back on the right track.

Speaking with PEOPLE in an exclusive conversation at the Gotham Awards in New York City on Dec. 1, the two-time Emmy winner revealed the name of that harmonica-laden Springsteen track: “Mansion on the Hill.”

“That made me feel very close to what the core of the film was about, so if I was feeling lost or unsure, I would return to that song,” White, 34, said.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — a biopic in which White portrays the titular character in his younger years — tells the story of Springsteen as he records and releases his emotional 1982 album, Nebraska.

“Mansion on the Hill” is a track from the ’80s folk album.

White covered “Mansion on the Hill” for the biopic, which released in theaters on Oct. 24, helping him earn praise for his portrayal of The Boss.

In addition to that song, White told PEOPLE at the Dec. 1 event about the other methods he used to transform into the 20-time Grammy winner.

“There was a particular sort of seven-minute video, an interview that I would watch almost every morning,” he explained. “But I think it was really just the way that he held his guitar.”

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White continued, “I watched a lot of footage of him recording the way he laid his head down, lifts on the harmonica. That was all stuff I was really focused on, and if I was feeling lost, I would rely on those things.”

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is out now in theaters.