'I Feel Like a Kid Again!' Jeff Bridges on Beating Cancer and Getting Advice From...Flies

Plus, why he still loves 'The Big Lebowski.'

Jeff Bridges says he resists just about every acting offer he gets. “I’m reticent to engage,” he says, “because I know once you engage, it costs something.” It costs him time away from his wife, Sue, and his Cavapoo dog, Monty, as well as from his three daughters, Isabelle, 40, Jessica, 38, and Haley, 36, and his three grandkids—and time away from other things. “I don’t even know what they are, but I can’t do ‘em!” he says with a laugh.

But then something will hook him, like this month’s role in the new TV series The Old Man (June 16 on FX), a thriller drama in which Bridges stars as Dan Chase, a former CIA agent now on the run from people who want him dead.

Bridges, 72, is Zooming with Parade from his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. “This is the wildest little place,” he says with glee. He’s in a cozy sweater and glasses, kicked back in a stuffed chair, facing a garden fountain in his yard. “I’m in my garage that I’ve turned into—what do they call it—a men’s cave?” In the background are the sounds of birds chirping and water trickling, while behind him, the walls are covered in photographs chronicling his wide-ranging life and his career, which began as a child actor.

There are pictures of his mother, Dorothy, and actor father, Lloyd Bridges (High Noon, Sea Hunt); and with his older brother, actor Beau Bridges, 80, and younger sister, Cindy; and photo mementos of his own achievements as a movie star (The Last Picture Show, The Big Lebowski, Crazy Heart, True Grit). The room is also filled with hallmarks of his other passions; he’s a singer-songwriter with three albums who also fronts his own band, Jeff Bridges & the Abiders; a photographer with two published books; an artist who paints, sculpts, doodles and makes jewelry; the national spokesperson for the organization No Kid Hungry, dedicated to feeding children around the world; and a longtime activist for the environment.

This room is also, he says, “where my hospital bed was.”

Bridges announced in October 2020 that he was diagnosed with lymphoma—and while being treated with chemo, he got COVID on top of it. “I was just messed up!” he says. “It was quite an experience, I gotta say.” These days, though, he’s feeling great and “it seems like a dream to me now.” Today, before he heads off to get a CT scan to check on his health, he shares what impacted him most as a child, his new role in The Old Man and why the Dude from The Big Lebowski continues to abide.

Related: Jeff Bridges' Best Roles

What drew you to playing Dan Chase in The Old Man?

I hadn’t done TV in a long time, and I was curious if it was gonna be any different than making movies. And it’s no different! All these guys were just top-notch, you know? [Co-stars] John Lithgow and   bring so much joy and fun; it’s such a ball! That’s the other joy of acting—you don't know the people, but the object is to get close, so we can jam.

You have fight scenes in the show. How did you prepare for such a rough-and-tumble part?

We cast great stunt coordinators and my stunt double. But putting [my character’s] age on the fights was an element; he had to fight like a guy my age. I got in shape [through] a guy named Eric Goodman, who has something called Foundation Training. And I had another great trainer. One of the things to prepare for my part was getting into stoicism as kind of a philosophy of guys like Dan. It’s a wonderful philosophy. I like how it mixes with my Buddhist bent.

What do you do for your health every day to stay sharp and strong?

Foundation Training. There are two back exercises: a standing decompression breath and the eight-point plank. What it’s about, too, is dealing with stress. We try to avoid stress; but stress is life. That is how it rolls, man! So, to put stress on yourself, it’s a wild thing! You practice and you get better and better. I do [the exercises] fairly religiously. I don’t want to get out of the groove, ’cause it’s a good groove.

You play an old man in a show called The Old Man. Do you feel like an old man?

Yeah, especially at certain times. But I also feel like a kid, about 8 years old sometimes! And I don’t think I’ve changed at all. I've just come kind of sharper into focus.

What were the most formative experiences of your youth?

Probably being born. My parents had lost a kid to SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome, just prior to me, so that probably has something to do with me in some way. I can’t imagine what that must have been like. My mom was kind of a magical woman; she did this thing with all her kids called time. She’d spend time, just an hour a day, doing whatever that kid wanted to do. And you never felt it was a duty or anything; she was just, you know, jammin’ with her kids. My mom gave me all that time and attention and my dad gave me my work path. Which, like most things, I resisted! You know, who wants to do what their parents want ’em to do? I’d say, “Oh, I don’t know if I wanna do this, Dad; you know, I’m kinda into music and art and paintings.” And he said, “You’ll get to do all those things, Jeff! It’s a wonderful life.” And I said, “Oh, OK.”

What do you remember most about your father?

I didn’t see him much because he was doing what I [grew up to] do—going out and making movies. But he had this joy. He really enjoyed being alive. I remember having a conversation with him, maybe a year or two before he died [in 1998]. I said, “Dad, you’ve given me so much, and I want to let you know that I feel like we’re in a relay race: You’re handing me the baton, and I’m gonna go out and do your work, everything that you taught me.” But I [also] remember, I would say, “Dad, you’ve gotta live each moment, each moment’s gotta be fresh!” And he said, “You know, that’s a wonderful thought, but it’s bullshit. We’re habitual creatures, man. It’s all about developing good or bad habits.” And this is a theme in my life, melding those two things: living in the moment, but at the same time, behavior has results.

You’ve had so many critically acclaimed and commercially successful roles, you’ve been nominated for seven Academy Awards and won an Oscar for Crazy Heart. What career choice are you most proud of?

I think the purpose of my career is to make a difference. I make differences in telling stories and stuff. But there’s another movie going on called “real life,” and I’m most proud of what I’m able to give to life in different ways—whether it’s the climate, or I’ve been involved in ending hunger for, like, 40 years.

The Big Lebowski made you a cult hero. How does it feel that of all the parts you’ve played, that has become one of your most defining ones?

I’m proud of that one! Wow, what a great time that was. And, you know, it’s the Coen brothers; man, they’re just masters! I don’t watch my movies much on TV or anything, but if Lebowski is on, I’ll go, “Oh, I’m just gonna watch [a little],” and then I get hooked!

Was there anything you’d do before the cameras started rolling, as the Dude, to get in the zone?

Well, it was interesting. The Dude, like me, is basically a pothead. I used to love pot. I can’t do it now, because of my health. But I decided to not get high while I made that movie because I wanted to really be there for that script and those lines and that character. Also, a mindset I have for most things I do—because, you know, you get anxious, and the groovier the thing is, the more anxious you get—I will do a form of prayer, I guess. I’ll remind myself, “Be open and look for the direction.” Everything is directing us all the time. It’s what we pay attention to. It may be a grip over there, or a guy talking about his mother, or it could even be a fly. You go up to a fly, and you say, “You got any tips?” “Yeah.” “Like what?” “Don’t do anything.” “Oh, God—beautiful direction, thank you!”

You and your wife, Sue, met on the set of the 1975 movie Rancho Deluxe. What has made you such good partners for all these years?

I’m so blessed. We’re going on 45 years now, and it’s getting better and better! We coulda gotten divorced many times, for many reasons. We just didn’t. And we used that to hone our intimacy. Because our primal fight is, “You don’t get it. You don’t understand what it’s like living with you. You do this and that…you just don’t get it.” And it’s accurate! But we both feel that. And we can use every bump to widen our love basket. And it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more precious.

How much are each of your daughters like you?

Isabelle and I love talking philosophy and spiritual stuff. She has the grandkids, and she and I wrote a book called Daddy Daughter Day, all about my attempt at “time.” That’s kind of a regret that I have, as I look back on my life, not having spent as much time as I could with my girls. Jessie, my middle daughter, she was my assistant on three movies, so we hung out a lot together. She also plays guitar and writes beautiful music. Haley, my youngest, is a very successful designer. She lives in Santa Barbara right next to us. We see each other a lot. And one of the things that brought me through my illness—the goal I used—was walking her down the aisle. She just got married, and I was able to not only walk her down the aisle, but also do our dance.

You released your first album in 2000, and have been regularly performing with your band, the Abiders.And you won an Oscar for your singing role in Crazy Heart.What do you get out of music that you don’t get from acting?

I look at acting, and working with clay, and making necklaces, all of it, playing music, basically the same. They’re just different ways of creating.

Your Old Man character was quietly living out his golden years with his two dogs until he had to go on the run. How do you hope to live out yours?

As far as what I’ll be doing, I don’t know; like I say, I resist. I resist! I don’t wanna do anything! There’s a bird on my fountain there… You see? There’s a bird taking a bath in there right now. So I can see just livin’ it with my wife, and my dog, all my kids, the world and all my friends.

Related: 15 Best Big Lebowski Quotes That Make Us Love 'The Dude'

Jeff Bridges' Favorites

Book Jeff Bridges is reading

“The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday. And there’s another one that’s kind of cool, Four Thousand Weeks[by Oliver Burkeman]. That’s [around] how many weeks we have if we die at 80. That’s not too many, is it?!”

Jeff Bridges' favorite time of the day

“The morning. I wake up, not even that early, like 7 or something like that, and do my exercises, do my coffee and I read. It, like, sets up the day.”

Always in Jeff Bridges' work trailer

“My guitar.”

Jeff Bridges' guilty pleasure

“Ice cream. That pint of Häagen-Dazs vanilla with some stuff on it, maybe caramel, or hot fudge. My mother used to make homemade vanilla ice cream, homemade fudge, homemade blanched almonds, and the cherry…I think that might have been store-bought, but oh man, was that good. When you can taste the eggs in the ice cream, you know?”

Actor Jeff Bridges would still like to work with

“It’s funny, I don’t have that kind of desire too much. I’m not one of those guys like, ‘I gotta play Abraham Lincoln!’ I worked with incredible actors, and I’d like to do more with them: John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman, Meryl Streep, Ryan Reynolds, just…oh, you know, the folks.”

Jeff Bridges' mantra of the moment

“Well, what comes to mind…two. One was a famous quote from [spiritual leader] Ram Dass: ‘Be here now.’ And a book about another dear friend, [Zen Buddhist] Bernie Glassman—who was Ram Dass’ dear friend as well—titled Don’t Be Here Now. Isn’t that great?!”

Jeff Bridges'  earliest movie crush

“Well, who didn’t dig Natalie Wood or Julie Christie? You know Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren—oh, you got me going now! Earliest one? I don’t know. Tuesday Weld comes to mind.”

Jeff Bridges' secret talent

“It’s not a talent, but something that not too many people know about is that I live in this little house by the beach. And Sue and I and our dog, Monty, we often go walking on the beach and there are these shells, beautiful shells, mostly shards, though. But I’ve been collecting these for the last, you know, four or five years, and I make necklaces out of them. I wear them and give them away.”

What Jeff Bridges is pondering

“The new curiosity for me is fractals [mathematical representations of recurring patterns]. Back in the ’80s, this guy, [Benoit] Mandelbrot—he’s a mathematician/scientist—came up with this very simple equation [that] creates this pattern, and the pattern can lead you into infinity, basically. In nature, it’s all over the place. If you look at a fern, you’ll see there’s a fern, and then the little leaves are smaller versions of the fern. It’s all basically the same thing, but in more detail and deeper. They call this fractal ‘the fingerprint of God.’ [Fractals] remind me very much of what life is like: This is the way it is. There are infinite numbers of variations on that, but this is what it is.”

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