“How I feel? I feel amazing,” exclaims Jeffrey Leon Bridges, actor of actors, faces of faces, voice of voices. He affirms it when asked how he experiences his return to the screens, in his first leading role in the era of prestigious series, after beating the pulse of death.
Today it sounds conventional for a Hollywood actor to venture into a series, but this is not just any case: it is ‘The Dude’ (as he is known since his iconic performance in The Big Lebowski) returning “from the other side” at the age of 73 to play a slow-paced psychological thriller, but also one of confrontation and strong blows. The series sees the light after stopping production for 15 months and resuming activity, against many forecasts. It is a work reborn and inspired, if you will, by Bridges, its lead actor and executive producer, who during that time faced cancer in the lymphatic system and a positive covid diagnosis. He wasn’t supposed to survive, but he survived, and he continues to add valuable steps.
The Californian, born in 1949, son of comedian television actor Lloyd Bridges, active on movie screens since the seventies, recognizes more than ever the fortune of being surrounded by people who adore him and doing what he has loved for so long . For now, that does not change the filming routines. Bridges says that, for now, on set “I feel the same, maybe a little stronger.”
On the other side of the screen, its impacts are multigenerational. Different audiences have revered him for decades and appreciate his films. If anything, this episode serves to look back at the impressive filmography he has carved out and his present bet.
First the past. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman, tron, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Fisher King, The Big Lebowski, Crazy Heart, True Grit, Hell or High Water These are just some of the outstanding films that this figure on the big screen has been offering since the seventies, all with the mark of his acting charisma and talent. These have represented seven nominations and a victory at the Oscar Awards. But his is a particular case. His career is not measured in awards, it is measured in the immense respect that the audience, colleagues, collaborators and critics have for him. And that is born from the unique energy that he radiates, from that genuine and affable air that does not make him one-dimensional in his roles.
On the present side, The Old Man, which has already premiered its seven episodes on Star+, is not cinema, but it takes a lot of that language. The production mixes international intrigue with the effects of the passage of time on the body and mind of spies and intelligence agents, as well as on the lives of their (few) loved ones. This series flashbacks
mature is as careful in her excellent and believable combat scenes as she is in her contemplative shots and tense dialogue.
Thus, Bridges marks his arrival on the small screen. And what a debut, at what time… And as he says in the conversation, “when it comes to job offers, I start by resisting everything. And I do it because I know the cost of commitment.” So when he agrees, he goes head first. In the series, Bridges is Dan Chase, a former CIA agent who has gone off the game and off the radar only to see his past drag him back onto the chessboard.
And the narration establishes a face-to-face with another legendary talent, perhaps older on television, such as John Lithgow (in the role of Harold Harper). The viewer sees the mature version of two guys who operated in Afghanistan in the 1980s, now seeing their interests collide 30 years later, but also discovering in flashbacks to their younger versions the causes of the network of consequences faced by the characters.
On the difference between his current character and one of the iconic roles that did not bring him nominations, but did bring him immortality (that one in The Big Lebowski, by the Coen brothers), he asserts: “They are diametrically opposed. One of the things that people appreciate most about ‘The Dude’ is its authenticity. He is what he is no matter what you think of him. In Chase’s case, he’s a CIA agent, a spy of sorts, and to be one he has to transform and jump between personalities. So, in a way, he loses his identity, he doesn’t know who he is, and that can be disconcerting. They are very different cats. About ‘The Dude’ Lebowski, in 1998, he says: “I played him totally sober. I did not smoke, but I had prepared myself long before”.
Returning to the harsh illness and the pandemic, the actor assures: “I spent almost a year and a half immersed in this strange dream and came back. And to that ‘dream’ effect was added that I met again with the same people I stopped seeing when everything (cancer, pandemic) happened. What just happened, I wondered in the joyful moment of working with this gang again.
And it is very telling that of that gang, that is, the production team that began shooting the series with him in 2020, 95 percent returned to finish what they started. It is not common for so many people to put their work life on hold for 15 months to close a job, even in times of isolation and work marked by distancing. That’s the Bridges effect.
“I had a year-and-a-half struggle against my mortality, and in times like this, it seems that all your philosophies and spirituality test you. That experience has made me a more mature man. I have not felt a difference in how I approach life, I have always done it the same, but these experiences make the images clearer”.
The images of this star, who does not shy away from playing an action character from survival and the idea of having to cross paths with her again in old age, are worth applause. After all, who better to deal with that part of life that no other follows?
Jeff Bridges, or beat cancer at 73 and debut on TV starring in an excellent espionage thriller