NYGossipGirl Exclusive: Jeff Bridges Interview

At first Jeff Bridges turned down the role of Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. He felt that a movie like that deserved to have music in it, which was something that it lacked, but when everything finally came together and T Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton wrote the songs, he took on the role and garnered a Golden Globe nomination.

NYGossipGirl recently sat down with the actor who talked about the challenges of the role and the Oscar buzz the film is getting.

“This movie was presented to me when I was in the middle of something else,” said Bridges. “It takes me away from my wife and everything else. Finally, when things came into place, a year after, T Bone fell in place and I was there.”

Bridges plays Bad Blake, a broken-down, hard-living country music singer, who drinks too much and doesn’t have his life together. Bridges tapped into his own life experiences to prepare.

“I’ve been drunk, hungover, so I knew how to do that and I’d go to my close circle of friends and that included these two great guys, T Bone and Stephen, and so Stephen was probably my biggest role model because he was there from every step of the way. Teaching me how to play chords and organizing a band to practice with. He was there everyday when we were shooting,” he said.

Bridges had to gain weight to play Bad Blake and throughout the film he gets out of his car with his pants unbuckled.

“That’s what happens when I’m fat and I’m driving,” he laughs.

“It’s tougher each time you do it,” said Bridges of gaining the weight. “I have to watch that, it’s not healthy to do that. I didn’t take too long to [gain weight]. Just eat that extra pint of Häagen-Dazs and have that extra drink.”

In the Crazy Heart, Bridges has the opportunity to work with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Colin Farrell. Although Farrell’s name isn’t credited in the film, his appearance is meant to be a surprise to the audience. The film was shot in a short amount of time, but Bridges found it to be easy, especially when he’s working with someone with the same work ethics.

“Maggie and Colin and I approached the work the same way and we had a lot of fun and you get to know the people that you’re working with as much as possible,” he said. “Colin flew in for less then a week and the whole movie was shot in 24 days. And some of the challenges as an actor is how you’re going to get up to speed quickly enough to get deep enough as you can get.”

And what about the Oscar buzz the film is getting?

“It feels great to be appreciated,” said Bridges. “It feels wonderful, especially to be appreciated by people who do what you do. There’s a whole commercial side to it and [sometimes it's hard with] a movie like this [especially one] that doesn’t have too much money to get TV ads and print ads and stuff. You have to look at other ways to bring people to the show and certainly festivals and winning awards makes the movie stand out.”

Posted: December 21st, 2009 under Celebrity Interviews, Movies.
Tags: Jeff Bridges

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