Jeff Bridges: The Only Living Boy in New York and other films recalled

Jeff Bridges has a rule he’s applied over 50 years of films: ‘I look inside myself, draw on my life for my character.’

Jeff Bridges in The Only Living Boy in New York Image. Picture: Niko Tavernise.

Jeff Bridges has a rule that has stood him in good stead through more than 50 years of moviemaking. Whether he’s playing a legendary stoner (The Big Lebowski) or a video-game program­mer (Tron), an alien in human form (Starman) or a tarnished hustler (Cutter’s Way), some things are consistent. “I look inside myself­ and see aspects of myself that might apply to this guy,” he says. “And then I find I’m kind of a sponge, I draw on anything in my life that I think might apply to characters.”

In The Only Living Boy in New York, directed by Marc Webb, Bridges has a supporting role that carries weight; characteristically, his performan­ce digs deep, yet seems entirely natural and unforced. The central figure in this coming-of-age story is Thomas (Callum Turner­), a college graduate adrift. He’s ambivalent about New York, conflicted about his writing ambitions, and the girl he longs for (Kiersey Clemons) is interested only in friendship.

Thomas gets close to a new neighbour, WF (Bridges), who becomes a mentor and adviser, probing Thomas’s uncertainties and insecur­ities, prodding and offering counsel. Observant and exacting, he initially seems to have all the answers. Yet he’s a more complex and troubled figure than he first appears.

Bridges grew up in front of a camera. His parents were both actors: his father, Lloyd Bridges, made his name in the TV series Sea Hunt in the 1950s. Bridges’ older brother Beau is also an actor: they memorably depicted sibling tensions in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989).

With Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show.

Jeff Bridges’ breakthrough movie was Peter Bogdanovich’s elegiac The Last Picture Show (1971); he was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role as a dutiful golden boy in a small Texas town in the 50s. He has been nominated six more times, winning an Oscar at last for his performance as a fading country singer in Crazy Heart (2009).

His range has been wide and adventurous, but not in a way that draws attention to itself. Film critic Pauline Kael has talked of the way Bridges “just moves into a role and lives in it — so deep in it that the little things seem to come straight from the character’s soul”.

He has never taken his charm for granted, and has always embraced flaws and vulnerability; he is not afraid of playing villains. Many of his best performances have been in smaller or underrated films, but he’s happy to step into blockbusters as well as comedies.

Talking in more detail about WF, Bridges has plenty to say about his inspirations, yet is anxious not to give too much away about the enigmatic aspects of his character. He is a little frustrated, he says, that the trailer reveals more than he would like. Bridges has an executive producer’s credit on the film and played a role in its development. He likes to get involved this way from time to time. “It’s always nice to be included, to be in on the casting and all the preproduction stuff, so I appreciated that.”

In casting Thomas, he says, “we looked at many guys and Callum really shone — I think he’s a wonderful actor and a wonderful human being”. Getting accustomed to the to-and-fro between Thomas and WF was vital to the character, he says. “We rehearsed and got to know each other. Marc, the director, is wonderful to work with [and he] really facilitated our connections. Rehearsing is one of my favourite things to do in movies, you get to know each other, and there’s a lack of pressure.”

With brother Beau Bridges, left, and Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys.

There are keys to the character of WF in the changing condition of his apartment. And as Bridges worked with the costume department on what WF wore and how he presented himself, he received a suggestion that clarified things for him. “It was Samuel Beckett. His look. You look at some pictures of him and you can it. When you have all these talented people to collaborate with, everything comes into focus. That’s how I work as an actor, anyway.”

Yet, he adds, these contributions shouldn’t be too obvious: the whole should always be greater than the parts. “My personal taste is that with all of the different roles people have — actor, set designer, writer, director, cameraman, all of those things — you want their work to be interesting, but not to pop.

Bridges as The Dude in The Big Lebowski.

Bridges has a busy life outside movies: family, philanthropy, music, art. He has toured with his band, the Abiders, accompanied by musician daughter Jessie, who opens for him.

Earlier this year, some of his photographs were exhibited in Australia, in a show at the SALT Festival in Port Lincoln. He took them when he starred as the skipper of a sailing school in White Squall, ­Ridley Scott’s dramatic 1996 aquatic adventure. Most of his photos are taken on movie sets, starting in 1984, with ­Starman. However, he says: “Maybe my photo­graphy is a phase that lasted 40 years or something, but I’ve noticed I’m not getting as many photographs now.”

He likes to shoot on a Widelux, a panoramic camera. He has compiled books for cast and crew. In 2013 he won an award from the International Centre of Photo­graphy.

In the introduction to his book, he writes about why he likes to use the Widelux, which also says something about his approach to filmmaking: “Its viewfinder isn’t accurate, and there’s no manual focus, so it has an arbitrariness to it, a capricious quality. I like that. It’s something I aspire to in all my work — a lack of preciousness that makes things more human and honest … Getting out of the way seems to be one of the main tasks for me as an artist.”

David Stratton reviews The Only Living Boy In New York on Page 14.