Jeff Bridges Breaks Down His Career, from 'The Big Lebowski' to 'The Old Man'

Momentum has a lot to do with it.

That's kind of, how I roll.

This is been my path in life.

Like I said, I may resist it

but I notice as I look back, I said,

This is what you do man.

[upbeat music]

Hello, I'm Jeff Bridges

and this is the timeline of my career.

Well, I initially wasn't attracted

to acting and that's probably

because my parents wanted me to become an actor

and what kid wants to do what their parents want 'em to do.

I had a lot of other interests.

Music and art, painting and so forth.

And my father, Lloyd Bridges, he said,

Jeff don't be ridiculous.

That's one of the wonderful things about acting.

You get to explore all of those interests

that you have and you're gonna be called upon

to do all those things.

And I resisted and resisted and maybe I did 10 movies

before I finally said,

Oh yeah, this is something I can do.

This is, there's a lot of joy in this

and I really enjoy working with all these other artists.

So I'm glad I followed the old man's instruction on that.

[Man] May I?

[baby crying]

My first credit was in a movie called

The Company She Keeps at six months old.

It was a movie directed by John Cromwell

and Jane Greer, a wonderful actress

was supposed to be holding a little baby

and my mother said, Oh, here hold my son

and I was a very happy baby.

And I was supposed to cry in the scene,

be kind of a whinger.

So my mom said to Jane, Oh, just pinch him, he'll cry,

so she pinched me and I cried.

And now we cut, oh, maybe 30 years later

and I'm making a movie called

Against All Odds with Jane Greer,

she was in the original called Out of the Past

and we had a scene together

and I'd say, Jane, I'm having trouble.

I can't quite get the emotion.

Could you just pinch me?

And she pinched me,

I was able to achieve the emotion that I was going for.

Jane Greer, amazing actor.

[man chattering]

You really asking my girl for a date?

You turn me loose.

I'll turn you loose any time you're ready to fight,

come on, let's have it out.

I think I might have been

the first guy cast in that movie.

Casting is such an interesting,

important part of making movies.

It's probably 99% of what it takes

to make something successful.

But in my case with Last Picture Show

I, from what Peter said, I walked through the door

and boom that would,

the character walked through and oh that's the guy.

I can remember having launched with Tim Bottoms

and Cybill and we're having lunch

and we weren't allowed to see any of the dailies,

the stuff that we'd shot the day before,

Peter was very private about that stuff.

But we had this feeling

and all of us were pretty green at the time

but we said, Man something feels special

about this thing, doesn't it?

Yeah, it sure does, and it was,

I think that movie that just kind of stands by itself.

It's not like any other movie and no movie's like it,

it just hangs there, beautiful, beautiful film.

Peter, who we lost recently,

what an amazing filmmaker.

I still was thinking,

you know I'm not sure if I want to do this,

make this my career.

I was still kind of wondering what I was gonna do

but it felt, gosh, it felt amazing to get that recognition.

Well, Merry Christmas, come on let's have some fun.

[dramatic music]

[Man] I recognize it.

[electronic beeping]

[guns firing]

Oh, well he was so innovative.

Steven Lisberger I believe it was his first movie.

There was nothing like it, I mean,

we shot it in 70 millimeter, black and white.

All the sets were black duvetyne

with white adhesive tape on them

and all of hand tinted by women in Korea.

I mean, it was just a bizarre idea

and the sound stage, lined with video games

that we could all play for free.

And I would get on, I remember a game called Battle Zone,

this tank thing, and I'd be called to the set.

And I said, No, man, I'm preparing,

I'm preparing for the show.

And I would get in there to get into the world.

[cars whirling]

[Man] Taking him into the maze.

Well that, you know, that CGI thing,

I've done, quite a bit of it since then

but that is like the,

the most primitive form of acting

that goes right back to your childhood

where you have to pretend,

there's no giant Cyclops you've gotta,

you've gotta conjure that up for everybody.

It was such an, so unusual.

And it's funny, I think doing things that,

it seems like it's more risky to do something so unusual

but in in a way I think it's safer

because there's nothing to compare it to, it just,

sits there by itself.

Being what it is.

[dramatic music]

Busted again.

Rose, I have a theory about love and sex.

Does anybody want coffee?

Oh, I'd love some.

What theory?

Regular or decaf?

Regular.

I can make cappuccinos.

What I remember was having a wonderful time with Barbara

and what a great director she is,

you know she gets a lot of,

I don't know, I guess flack in a way

or she's kind of known for being a perfectionist,

but to have that perfection directed towards you,

it's a wonderful feeling.

She was, really wanted to make sure

that I was, getting everything I needed

and you know, how I felt she was,

wonderfully inclusive and had a great vision for herself

but open at the same time,

that's my favorite kind of director.

I think one of the things about actors and directors

each actor, needs something different from a director

and the directors that can, read that

and give the actors what they need to relax

and so the best work can come through,

I think it's very important,

she certainly knew about that.

We had a wonderful time,

but I enjoyed working with her very much.

Greg, why don't you come to the kitchen and help me.

[Mother] Rose, why don't you go put the coffee on.

Mother, I made dinner,

why don't you put the coffee on.

Walter how am I gonna--

Call the fucking shots.

[The Dude] Oh, that's it, I'm outta here.

Oh, come on, Dude.

Dude!

Dude, look.

You just tell 'em, tell 'em we made the drop

and everything went, you know?

Oh yeah, how'd it go?

Well, all right, Dude's car got a little dinged up.

Walter, we didn't make the fucking hand off, man.

They didn't get the fucking.

They said, Jeff, We've written something for you, man.

I said, Oh wonderful.

I was a big fan of their,

Blood Simple and their early stuff

and then I got the script and I said,

Wow, you guys must have been spying on me

in some of my, you know, high school days or something.

This is, you know, wonderful.

It's nothing like I've ever played before,

I don't know why you've got me in mind

but I'm sure glad they did.

Yes, it's, that's a wonderful film.

Those guys are masters, they know how to do it.

The Big Lebowski every scene it just,

it's so chockfull with great stuff.

They write together

and I remember asking them, I think, Joel, I said

How do you guys write and direct together?

I love my brother Bo but I think God,

I think that would be kind of a nightmare with,

'cause we all have these different opinions and,

I think they said something like,

Well, we work it out in the writing time when we're all,

when we're writing it,

so when we actually are there shooting it, you know

we've ironed out all our differences

and they create a very, very relaxed atmosphere.

They're a great audience too

which is helpful for actors.

They, they're your audience right there

when you're doing it.

It's just a really good movie

and all the characters

and the way everything is executed,

from the set design or the wardrobe,

everything is just, just right.

[Donny] Where you going, Dude?

[The Dude] Going home, Donny

Run your nose that you're clean of the perjury

but he's got the world thinking something on a bad soapbox.

[Man] That went well.

[Second Man] Did I just--

Goddamn crystallized, the difference

between being guilty and being responsible?

[Woman] Are you asking me to step down sir?

No, no, it's not gonna be that easy for you

and it's not gonna be that easy for them.

So Rod Lurie, another first, I've had wonderful

times with first time directors

and this was Rod's first movie.

Although I remember reading the script

and yelling to my wife,

Hey, I think that one here, this is good.

And because I think I had just played The Dude

and now I'm being asked to play

the President of the United States

and I loved to switch up,

with my roles as much as I could.

So I, especially in my early career,

I really tried to to mix up my roles

so I would wouldn't get typecast.

So the people who were hiring me said,

Oh yeah, he could do that and that

and also would pleasantly confuse the audience

so they could imagine me playing different roles.

So playing the president was terrific

and, again, I got to work with Joan Allen

and she was so brilliant in The Contender.

I will do whatever you say.

Show them why Lane Hansen is

my nominee with your closing statement.

Well, that, that went well.

Did I just paint a target in the back of my head?

Your head, what about my head?

What do you think the over under

on the stock drop is gonna be?

[Tony] Optimistically 40 points.

[Obadiah] At minimum.

Yep.

Tony we're a weapons manufacturer.

Wow, John Favreau man,

what a director, what a great filmmaker.

It was Marvel's first adventure in making movies,

it was so lucky to have John on there and Downey

because both of them are so,

they're terrific improvisers and,

we spent a couple of weeks working on the script

and rehearsing together

because we didn't like the original script.

And we thought, oh yeah, we fixed this, fixed that.

And then came the first day of shooting

and Marvel kind of threw out our script

that we had been working on said,

No, that's, that's no good, it's gotta be this, that.

And so there was a lot of confusion

about what our script was, what we were gonna say, you know?

And we'd spend hours in one of our trailers,

going over lines and say, oh, you play my part,

I'll play your part.

Exploring how we gonna do it.

Oh, oh John would say, Oh, I know a writer.

Let me see, he might have some ideas.

Hello, yeah.

When you were doing this thing,

meanwhile the crew is in the sound stage,

tapping their feet saying

When are we gonna get this thing going?

And it drove me absolutely crazy

until I made a slight adjustment in my brain.

And that adjustment was Jeff, just relax.

You're making a $200 million student film,

just relax and have fun.

And that, that kind of did the trick

because here I get to play with these two incredible artists

and just jam,

and that's what we ended up doing.

And I, for my money, that's the best Marvel movie.

I know I'm biased, of course.

But man, I thought that was, it was a wonderful experience.

And John Favreau again, he was able to deal with the suits

and deal with the actors and be a writer.

And man, he's all of it, man, he's wonderful.

[guns firing]

Hey Mr. Blake, you right man?

Oh yeah. I'm good.

We're back on.

Hey

It's wonderful to be here.

[country music]

If I've learned anything over the years

give you people what you want otherwise you ever get.

Yeah, Crazy Heart, what an experience.

Yeah, I turned it down several times

maybe for a couple of years and it kept showing up.

The reason that I gave myself

was that there was no music,

and no matter how good the story is,

if there's no, it's all about music

and if you don't have the music,

but that was just, that was kind of a lie

I was telling myself

I think what was really going on

was that the idea of doing a music movie like that

was such a thrilling idea because I love music.

I play guitar

and I write songs and I said, Oh, this be so great.

But once it becomes a reality

and you actually make it,

then you can fail,

you can drop the ball.

And until that time, when you actually,

engage in that, it's in the dream world,

and you're not gonna fail, you're not gonna succeed.

But you're certainly you're not gonna fail.

You know, it's a bit like,

that wide receiver going out

for that perfectly thrown pass

and you're just praying that your hands

are gonna grab that ball.

I find that,

often true

the movies that are most exciting to you

also produce the most anxiety

because you don't want to drop the ball.

You wanna, do justice to this great gift

that you've been given.

Scott Cooper.

Again, first time director,

I've had such wonderful luck with these guys.

And, you know, Scott,

was a terrific movie buff, a writer,

which always helps tremendously.

He was excited about what you were gonna,

what you are gonna give

and so supportive and what do you need?

And being also, he was an actor himself.

So he knew, what actors are looking for

and the fear and the anxiety that we all have,

and how to work with that.

So I was offered the thing,

many times, I kept turning it down,

telling myself, well there's no music,

but I was really kind of afraid to ruin a dream.

And I run into T Bone who we met on Heaven's Gate

T Bone says, What do you think

about this Crazy Heart movie?

I said, Why do you ask, are you interested?

I say, Yeah, but this good story, good script

but there's no music, you know?

And he says, Oh, that's the easy part, man.

I said, You're kidding.

He says, No, no, come on, you wanna do it?

I said, Are you interested?

He says, I'll do it if you'll do it.

I said, Oh, well now how could I

that didn't feel right to turn that opportunity down.

I said, Well, maybe it's all falling into place.

I said, Okay and off we go.

The star of the show.

[audience applauding]

Legendary Bad Blake.

Oh, you're the brave girl with stories of El Dorado.

How much money you got there?

I save $50 to retrieve Chaney and you did not believe me.

Yeah, well, I did not know.

You know, talking to Joel and said,

Joel, why do you wanna make this movie?

I mean, this is, John Wayne's, big movie.

And why do you guys wanna do that?

And he says, Have you read the Charles Portis book?

And I said, No.

And then I read the book and I understood why

because the book read like a Cohen brother movie,

it was just so perfect.

And so I jumped in, but God,

that was one, of the wonderful experience that was.

Great, great actors.

Hailee's so terrific.

Very difficult part,

to play that kind of intelligence,

and tenacity.

And I remember the first scene we shot

was her waking me up.

And I said to Joel and Ethan, Oh, she's gonna be so great.

This is, we're so lucky to have her.

I love playing westerns.

That's one of my earliest memories with my dad is,

him coming home from work with his cowboy hat and boots

and I would put them on, walking around.

Love, love, Cowboys, love that.

What a great part of our history, the West.

Save your money.

Meet me here at seven o'clock tomorrow morning,

we'll begin our coon hunt.

[Police] There just one? Yep.

There's supposed to be two of them.

Maybe the town folks got one.

[gun firing]

Well, if they did, they got the smart one,

this old boy's out of his mind.

Hell or High Water,

I really love that picture.

David Mackenzie was wonderful to work with,

created a great environment on the set

and like my favorite directors had a real,

strong vision of the way it ought to be

but also open at the same time.

So it would take ideas from all of us actors and,

God, he made a great movie I think, I really love it.

Maybe one of these bank robbers is gonna want a gun fight

and I can dodge my retirement in the blaze of glory.

[Radio] Emergency.

My name is, is Dan Chase,

I'm at 92 Neville Street in Norwich.

A man just broke into my house with a gun.

He fired at me, I fired back,

I shot him, I think he's dead.

I read the script and I read the book

and those started to entice me

and I said, well, Jeff, you know, the next step

is you gotta meet with the creators of these things.

And I having conversation with my son say,

Yeah but you know,

you don't like to meet with those guys

because their dreams can be contagious, man,

and you're going to get sucked into their thing.

I said, Yeah, but I like the script.

I like the story, that's your next step.

And I said, Okay.

So I met with John Steinberg and Warren Littlefield

and Dan Shots and they got me, man.

I got their dream, I caught their dream

and I said, Oh, these guys, they can do it.

They know what's needed.

And they're prepared to bring that to the party.

So I came on board and then all of a sudden,

I was saying the casting, not only the actors

but the crew, that's so important.

And they started to assemble this great team

of John Lithgow,

Amy Brenneman, Alia Shawkat,

there's just, everybody started to come together

and exceed your expectations.

You always have high hopes

and then when it comes together to be

pleasantly surprised, it's better than I thought.

That's what keeps you coming back.

They cast these master stunt coordinators,

Henry Kingi and Tim Connolly,

and these guys, they knew how to make it look real.

They were experts in their field, masters.

They make it look easy,

but it takes a lot of hard work to give it that

feeling of, oh, it's nothing, it's just a fight.

As I was saying I resist engaging in projects,

do my best not to, because I know if I do this

I won't be able to do that.

And I don't even know what that is

but I want to, it's something by about surrendering

what you don't know is gonna happen.

That's a challenge for me

but I've been I've been very fortunate.

I've touched a lot of stuff I wanted to touch on.