Well, Thanksgiving we'll all gather at my house for dinner and we usually do Christmas at Beau's house. My mom is still feisty and kicking. She's 92. I saw her last night and she published a book at 90. It's a wonderful book called "You Caught Me Kissing" and it's basically love-poems that she wrote for my dad. It's more than that, it's a wonderful book.
Jeff BridgesPlay doesn't have to be a frivolous thing. You may think of a Beethoven symphony as something serious, but it's still being played. I think Oscar Wilde said that life is too important to be taken seriously.
Jeff BridgesI think it would really be more like 10 films before I locked in and said, "Yeah, I'm really gonna do this thing."
Jeff BridgesGenerally speaking I would say I enjoy the smaller films more because there's a less sense of pressure and often the material is more unusual. But in "Iron Man" it was kind of like both worlds colliding because there was a lot of improvisation, not that we improv-ed in the scenes but to discover the actual scenes themselves.
Jeff BridgesAs you become famous you lose some of your anonymity, which is wonderful for an actor to have because you can observe people and also people don't have such a strong sense of who you are and that sort of thing.
Jeff BridgesAs a kid, you want to be liked for who you are. You don't want to be liked for who your parents are. You don't want to get a job because of who your parents are. You want to do it on your own, with your own gifts and your own value. So, I decided to spare my kids that and not be as pro-active as my dad was.
Jeff BridgesI have no lucky charm. I am 100 percent superstition-free, and I take nothing for granted.
Jeff BridgesI don't think I ever went down that movie star path. I always enjoy taking a 90-degree turn from the last thing I did.
Jeff BridgesI was loving music, and loving art, painting, so I was considering those things, but I must say I dug acting as well.
Jeff BridgesI kind of quit surfing when I got out of high school, but then a few years ago I started to take it up again. I'm not an expert by any means, but it's so wonderful to get out in the ocean and get a different perspective on things.
Jeff BridgesIn life and in movies, it's a similar challenge, where you have expectations, and you end up in situations that are not meeting your expectations.
Jeff BridgesLike most of the movies I get involved with, I resisted as long as possible, I really try to figure out why I shouldn't do it and this one had plenty of reasons "not to do it".
Jeff BridgesMy m.o. as far as choosing projects is I really try not to work. I try to not do the scripts that are offered me.
Jeff BridgesYou have that Frank Capra kind of side to it and the characters are really well drawn, so I think everybody tried their best to stay faithful to the script.
Jeff BridgesA large part of acting is just pretending. You get to work with these other great make-believers, all making believe as hard as they can.
Jeff BridgesOften when I finish a film I'll have that feeling inside me: 'I never want to do this ever again. I don't want to pretend anymore. I want to be myself and do that.' And then, thank God, that feeling goes away after a month or so and I'm raring to go again.
Jeff BridgesI play music as much as I can. I have a band called The Abiders. We've put out a couple of albums you can find on iTunes. We tour and all that stuff, so music is very much a part of my life.
Jeff BridgesMy wife, whenever I'd go off to work and I'd be kind of anxious, she'll say, 'Remember, have fun.' Oh, I forgot, thanks for the reminder. Because sometimes we do forget. We take it all too seriously and there's a lot of joy to be had wherever you are.
Jeff BridgesOne thing I want to do is create something called Ring Around Congress. It would be a state deal and also a national thing, where the kids, as a field trip, will go and join hands around Congress and give the politicians report cards on how they're voting on hunger issues.
Jeff BridgesIt's funny. You succeed, but now where are you gonna go from there? I've got to keep proving that I can laugh or cry more real each time.
Jeff BridgesI remember being on a black-and-white set all day and then going out into daylight and being amazed by the colour.
Jeff BridgesI hate it when there's a good movie, someone overhypes it and I'm disappointed that I don't like it more.
Jeff BridgesEveryone I meet is in my sangha. I don't know if that's the proper definition, but that's the way I'm going to hold it in my mind.
Jeff BridgesI thought bringing those two [Taylor Sheridan and David Mackenzie] together, odds are you're going to come up with something pretty good.
Jeff BridgesOne of my favorite artists is Tom Waits, whom most people think of as a wonderful singer-songwriter and a great poet. I certainly think of him that way, but I also know him as a terrific actor. You know, that persona that he puts on when he's doing his music comes from being an actor, figuring out a persona.
Jeff BridgesI don't know how it is for women or for other guys, but when I was young and in my 20s, I had a fear of marriage.
Jeff BridgesYou don't want to do what your parents want you to do. You got your own things. And the whole idea of getting a job because of who your father is - that didn't isn't right.
Jeff BridgesI loved working with my brother [Beau] and my father [Lloyd] whenever that happened. I had a wonderful experience making "The Fabulous Baker Boys," which I felt was a great movie, too.
Jeff BridgesI consider myself pretty lazy, but I look back and check out the stuff I've done, and I say, 'God, that's a lot of stuff for a lazy guy.' It's a paradox, I suppose, being both things.
Jeff BridgesThere's lots of good movies where you feel that the dialogue could be improvised, but very little was. The "Big Lebowski" was like that where people say "oh, you know, that sounds so..." and we'd always go back and get every man, every ellipses in there the way these guys write it. Because not only is it saying what Michael wants the character to say but the way they all speak kind of creates this tone because it's not exactly real.
Jeff Bridges