At 75, Jeff Bridges very much abides. The legendary actor, beloved for his role as the Dude in 1998’s The Big Lebowski, projects a sense of Zen and down-to-earth calm both onscreen and off. Talking to Bridges is like talking to the guy you wish you were: Confident, kind, and cool as hell. Recently, Bridges has appeared in a new T-Mobile ad campaign with Zoe Saldaña, and somehow he’s making selling phones seem laid back and awesome.
He’s also just returned to the Tron franchise, a wild sci-fi world he helped launch back in 1982, which is on the heels of releasing a new album of throwback 1977 music called Slow Magic. (Imagine Jimmy Buffett mixed with George Harrison mixed with, well, the Dude.)
Men’s Journal caught up with Bridges to get his thoughts on technology, Tron, music, life, and exactly when the essence of the Dude was created.
Men’s Journal: When you did Tron in 1982, could you have imagined a near future where we’d be carrying around miniature TVs and computers in our pockets?
Ha! Well, no. God, taking me back to those times. I mean, we just finished this new one, which had these spectacular special effects and so forth — the sets were amazing! But the sets on the original were black Duvetyne with white adhesive tape. That was the set! We shot that in 70 millimeter and black and white!
But then, in the second Tron [Legacy, 2010], where I played a younger version of myself as Clu, that was the first time I had been scanned and put into a computer. So, it was almost like the actual movie, right? So the advances are just incredible. It’s really wild. We’re in some exciting times, man.
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Speaking of exciting, tell me about this album, Slow Magic
I was doing music with my dear friend Keefus Ciancia, and we’ve worked on several albums together. And he said, Let’s just go to the studio, bring some of your stuff, and we’ll work on it. So I brought this old cassette from 1977 of me and a bunch of old buddies jamming, and I played it for him. He loved that tape. And without telling me, he sent it to a friend of his who owns this record company called Light in the Attic. And this guy loved the tunes and put it all out as an album. I said, “Are we going to polish these tunes up?” He said, “No, I just want the raw thing.” And so that was it. I love the album, love the reaction. Music is such a dear part of my life.
Outside of your own stuff, what’s your favorite album of all time?
When you said “your favorite,” all these different things are firing in my mind. I mean, Bob Dylan, gosh, to be alive during his time and to experience his music and actually getting to work with him in a movie [Masked and Anonymous, 2003] was just remarkable. But, The Beatles, man. I just saw Paul McCartney in concert. He’s 83 and just kicking ass.
I just performed with my daughter Jesse, and we sang a version of “Hallelujah.” Not the Leonard Cohen version, but a version by duo Mamuse. It’s a wonderful song.
In Tron: Ares and even in 1982, Flynn feels very Dude-ish. Does the essence of The Dude exist before The Big Lebowski?
Well, I mean, I think the Dude’s a part of me! So yeah, I mean, I existed before the dude, so I guess maybe that answers your question.
But The Dude is not Staman?
[Laughs]. No, the Dude is not Starman. But I think when I start working on a role, I always think of different aspects of myself that I might magnify or diminish depending on the character. Some characters, I’ll kick out any aspects of the Dude; I have to kick those to the side. And I’ll emphasize some other ones. And that’s where it begins, looking in yourself, seeing what you can use that is part of you.What about when you play yourself?
We’re all actors playing ourselves. Everyone. You’re playing yourself right now.
