Steven Van Zandt Says He Never Takes His Nearly 60-Year Friendship with Bruce Springsteen for 'Granted' (Exclusive)

"This isn't an act," Van Zandt tells PEOPLE of their friendship

HANS KLAUS TECHT/APA/AFP/Getty Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt performing in Vienna in July 2023

• Steven Van Zandt's HBO documentary, titled Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival on June 8
• Van Zandt says he was always drawn to a band dynamic rather than a solo career
• Van Zandt says his friendship with Bruce Springsteen is authentic — and the chemistry fans see onstage is the real thing

After nearly 60 years of friendship involving a hit band, a best man and three big fights, Steven Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen are the real deal.

Speaking to PEOPLE about his HBO documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival on June 8, the musician and actor opened up about his decades-long friendship with the Born in the U.S.A. musician.

"You just don't have that many friends for 60 years. I think the fact that it survived some ups and downs, it says something about our nature," Van Zandt, 73, tells PEOPLE. "The nature of the importance of friendship in general, which is what attracted me to being in a band rather than a solo show business person."

Growing up, Van Zandt watched popular bands tour and make music together so much he wanted to create that for himself — and he did.

"We bought the illusion completely. We thought the Beatles were best friends, the Rolling Stones were best friends, The Who, the Kinks. We didn't know they were having fist fights," he says. "We made that illusion real — and I think that's the appeal of the E Street Band to this day, communicating that friendship."

Van Zandt, who's currently touring with Springsteen and the E Street Band, is in awe of their ability to bring massive crowds together after all these years.

"50 years later, how are we still playing to 300,000 people in one country in one week?" he says. "I think we're communicating that friendship, which is real with me and him. When they see us on the same microphone, that isn't an act. Nobody's that good an actor to keep this act up for 50 years."

He continues, "I think that's something that you cannot take for granted."

KMazur/WireImage Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt

In the documentary, directed by Bill Teck, viewers get an inside look into their friendship and Springsteen, 74, is featured in a sit-down interview.

Teck, who had been a fan of Van Zandt for years, says it took some convincing to get him onboard for the documentary — and it was ultimately his wife Maureen who convinced him to do it.

"When I became a documentarian and started working in this field, I started trying to convince him back in 2006. Word got back to me, 'Hey, I'm aware of you. No, thank you. I don't want a doc.' And then again, in 2014, after I'd had some success with my last documentary, again, 'No, thank you. We're aware of you.' And finally through his wife, his wife is very influential, Maureen, she finally convinced him to have a meeting with me. And then, he agreed to do it back in 2018," he says.

Adding, "That was a thrill because I knew that there was a story about a truly unique American artist and someone who's touched so many mediums."

In addition to the music, the documentary explores Van Zandt's activism and political involvement — as well as his work onscreen. Most notably on The Sopranos, Van Zandt revealed that he created his own character, Silvio Dante, from personal experience.

"I wrote a whole biography on him. He grew up with Tony Soprano — that was his best friend. And I kind of used my relationship with Bruce," Van Zandt added.

Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple "tells the story of an artist through the eyes of those that saw him most closely — the peers and legends that came up before, alongside and after him," according to the film's description.

Read the original article on People.