Everyone has a favourite Jeff Bridges, whether it be his immortal Jeff Lebowski (‘takin’ ’er easy for all us sinners’), his Clintonesque President (The Contender), his friendly lost alien (Starman) or his flirty jazz-bar piano player (The Fabulous Baker Boys). What’s sometimes left out of the discussion, though, is how much range this classic American actor continues to display nearly four decades after his first major film, The Last Picture Show, earned him an Oscar nomination.
Geeks were sent into a frenzy when he returned as video-game genius Kevin Flynn in Tron: Legacy, which hit cinemas in December, but viewers will soon get to see Bridges, 61, embody the eye-patched Rooster Cogburn, a role made famous by John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit and now reimagined by the Coen brothers. Also starring Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, the film, an American western, follows a US Marshal who sets out to help a 14-year-old girl track down the man who murdered her father. And with the film industry now well into its annual awards season, it seems as though history is set to repeat itself: like Wayne, it was recently announced that Bridges has received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the role. Alongside films such as The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Black Swan and Inception, True Grit is one of the year’s strongest awards contenders, and has received a further seven nominations, including one for Best Picture. We reached Bridges in his native Los Angeles.
Your dad, Lloyd Bridges, had some major roles in a lot of significant westerns, stuff like High Noon and Little Big Horn. Were westerns a big deal for you growing up?
Oh, absolutely. I just remember as a kid, you know, Dad coming home after work and appearing there in the front door, all dressed up like a cowboy, in boots and chaps. It was great, and of
course I’d throw all that stuff on. I remember visiting him on the set and, um, ruining a scene. [Laughs] They didn’t ride horses in close-ups; they rode on ladders! So I saw Dad and a bunch of cowboys sitting on the tops of ladders with crew guys moving them to give them the illusion that they were on horseback. I couldn’t keep a straight face. I had to be kicked off set.
Meanwhile, you’re wonderful in True Grit, but the performance is nothing like John Wayne’s Oscar-winning turn in the first one. Was that part of the plan?
Yeah. I mean, the guy’s an icon. He was wonderful in some of those Howard Hawks westerns…movies with titles I can’t remember. But when the Coens invited me on board, I was curious as to why they would want to make the movie again. And they said, ‘We’re not making it again. We’re making the book, as if the movie never existed!’ [Laughs] So I took them up on it, and I didn’t refer to the original movie at all.
Maybe the real worry wasn’t stepping into the Duke’s boots so much as reuniting with the Coens after making such a classic, The Big Lebowski.
Why would I be concerned about working with them again?
You know, will lightning strike twice?
Nah, I don’t think about that stuff too much. It’s great to work with the directors you’ve collaborated with before – you develop a shorthand. And they’re among our very best, which always improves your game.
Now that you’ve won your long-deserved Oscar [for 2009’s Crazy Heart], is the whole awards race less of an albatross?
It’s never been an albatross. Ever. It will be whatever it is. We were very fortunate on Crazy Heart. It looks like the Coens have finally discovered teens and parenting, even gently so, with True Grit. I think they wanted to make a movie like that. We had [13-year-old] Hailee Steinfeld in there, carrying the whole story. I’ve got three daughters myself, so I couldn’t help but fall into that father-daughter thing with her.
Did you tease Hailee a lot?
Nah, her parents were on the set. She’s very well raised.
You’re kind of a techno-daddy in this new Tron: Legacy.
Seriously, the title applies: Tron: Legacy. What kind of legacy are we going to leave our kids?
There’s lots of ‘man’ and ‘jazz’ in your dialogue. Was that your influence?
Yep. I invited a friend, Bernie Glassman, who is a famous Zen teacher here in America, to advise us with the spirit of the film.
It’s like the Dude in space!
[Laughs] Inner space, sure.
True Grit is out in cinemas across Dubai from February 17.
Three degrees of separation
Bridges isn’t too far removed from original True Grit star John Wayne…
Jeff Bridges
Back in 1995, Bridges took on another American Western, playing James Butler (aka Wild Bill Hickok) in Wild Bill, which also starred…
Bruce Dern
he played outlaw Will Plummer alongside Bridges in Wild Bill. But, back in 1972, Dern starred in The Cowboys as the enemy and killer of Wil Anderson, played by none other than…
John Wayne
The actor won the best actor Oscar for his role in True Grit back in 1969.
