Jeff Bridges was at his home in Santa Barbara during the following phone interview, and while I was supposed to be talking about his starring role in the fantasy drama Seventh Son, the conversation naturally drifted to his many other roles during his 50ish year career.
How were you cast as Master Gregory in Seventh Son, Jeff? Were you maybe approached by director Sergei Bodrov?
It all happened in the pretty standard way. My agent presented me with the project, and it was based on a book by Joseph Delaney [The Spook’s Apprentice], so I read the script and then the book, and it was very interesting as I’m fascinated with fantasy and mythology. So my interest was piqued, and then I saw one of Sergei’s movies called Prisoner Of The Mountains, which I thought was wonderful, and I also liked his Mongol, the movie about Genghis Khan. I thought that he was the guy who could pull this movie Seventh Son off.
You say you’re interested in fantasy, and you have certainly done films with fantasy premises before…
Yeah, I do like to mix up the work… I liked the chance to wear the costumes and I was impressed by what the technical people were able to do to create the whole look of the film. It’s always great to work with artists like that.
What about working with Ben Barnes and Julianne Moore? I take it that she’s a pal of yours?
I think they were cast after me. Both of those guys are wonderful to work with, and Ben really threw himself into the role and was terrific, and he did it all in a real gung-ho sort of way. And Julianne and me, yeah, we worked on The Big Lebowski together, and so it was sort of a homecoming for us, and she’s just a wonderful person and an incredible actress.
And was working with all the effects a strange experience, or are you used to it now?
You do have to do a certain amount of greenscreen work with a movie like this, and that really calls upon your imagination and takes you back to when you were a kid and you used to imagine dragons and all of those things. And as for the stunts, well, I do enjoy doing some of those things, and I do try and do as much of them as I can to help with the illusion, but there were also these wonderful stuntmen who completed the illusion… It was a pretty intense shoot, yeah, but it was also great fun, and we were up filming in Vancouver and it’s just so beautiful up there. And cold!
Master Gregory is a complex character: funny and dark and full of secrets and barbed one-liners, so was that all in the script or did you flesh him out with help from Sergei? And what about his voice?
Discovering the tone of a picture is always a challenge, especially in a movie like this where you don’t want to take yourself too seriously – but you also don’t want to make it all seem too flippant too… And as for his voice, well, you get the costumes on and the make-up and then you look at yourself, and it’s like the voice just starts coming through you, like you’re a medium who’s channeling the character.
And what have you been up to since Seventh Son wrapped?
Well, I’ve been getting into my music a bit. I’ve done a new album with my band The Abiders and it’s on iTunes for those who want to check out what we’ve been up to, and I’ve been travelling with the band and my daughter Jessie, who’s a wonderful songwriter. And so yes, I’ve really been doing a lot of music, and it’s what I’ve been mostly concentrating upon in between movies… Oh, and I also made The Giver after Seventh Son.
Which is another fantasy film, albeit a darker and more satirical one…
Yes, exactly, and a very famous children’s book. Oh, and there’s another film I’ve done that’s based on a children’s book – it’s like a trilogy along with The Giver and Seventh Son – and it’s an animated movie called The Little Prince, which should be out later on this year. I really enjoyed making that one too, and I think that it’s going to be a big one.
You’ve been acting for over 50 years, so could you maybe tell us which of the films you’ve made are your personal favourites? And I know that everyone goes on A LOT about The Big Lebowski, so do you ever get tired of it and perhaps wish you weren’t The Dude?
No, no, absolutely not! I love that movie, it’s in my blood, and even if I wasn’t in it, I think that it would be probably up there in my own Top Five Movies Of All Time. I just love that movie! It was directed, of course, by the Coen brothers, and they’re real masters, you know, and they can do anything, and I got to work with them again when I did True Grit, which would probably be on my Top Ten list. You know, I’ve been very lucky to have been able to work with the very best directors and writers and actors, and with such great material as well. And my real favourites? Which of my movies pop into my head, now that you ask? I suppose that my favourites would include The Last Picture Show, and then there was an excellent movie that I got to do with my brother Beau and Michelle Pfeiffer, a movie called The Fabulous Baker Boys. And there was also a movie that was directed by one of your countrymen, Peter Weir, which was Fearless, which was really one of my favourite movies and movie-making experiences. And The Fisher King, with Terry Gilliam, and Starman, with John Carpenter… Yeah, I’ve been lucky!
And it must be asked, so sorry but, Jeff, do you plan to retire anytime soon?
Well, my Zen Master says that when people traditionally talk about retiring they just mean that they’ll be putting on a new pair of tires and going in a new direction, and I’m all for that! I suppose I’ll play it by ear, you know? I mean, I’m 65 now and I don’t know how many years I’ve got left, and I suppose that one side of me says that if I’ve got things I want to do and things I want to achieve then I need to get to work! But then the other side of me says that I don’t need to spend my whole life doing some kind of giant homework assignment and I do need to kick back and relax.
And how much of The Dude is in Jeff Bridges and how much of Jeff Bridges is in The Dude? You’ve been identified as The Dude for so long now are the two maybe indistinguishable?
All of my roles have something of me in them, yes… I don’t know what the percentage is, but I do know that The Dude is more laid-back than I am and takes things a bit easier. He was certainly fun to play and there’s some of me in him and some of him in me… And hey, can I leave you with a quote from Alexandr Solzhenitsyn which I think has resonance for Seventh Son? It’s this: “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” I think that’s great, don’t you?
I Wake Up Screening 