Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) - Jeff Bridges

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Ted Danson and Jeff Bridges have deep ties! In this episode they get into Jeff’s harrowing experience in the hospital, the music in “Crazy Heart,” how Jeff was practically made to play The Dude in “The Big Lebowski,” how he initially struck out with his now wife, and his starring role in the Hulu thriller “The Old Man.” Bonus: Jeff and Ted ponder the mysteries of marriage.    Like watching your podcasts? Visit http://youtube.com/teamcoco to see full episodes.

No, you are. You always have been and still are. I guess there's a portion of me that is deaf to who I am. Welcome back to Where Everybody Knows Your Name. It's just me today. My friend Woody's making a film overseas. I had the best time talking to Jeff Bridges. He's one of those actors, people say this about tennis players too, you know, he's so good that when you work with him, he makes you better. He just sucks you into his reality. And he's one of my favorite people. I had the pleasure of working with him once on a film called The Amateurs, and it's one of my highlights. You know, he makes getting into a character's skin seem so easy, whether he's playing the dude in The Big Lebowski or the outlaw country singer Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. He just draws you in. We had a great rambling conversation. I had the privilege of working with his father, so I got to know him kind of early on. But there's so much more to Jeff than his acting.

I mean, he's an amazing musician. He has albums you can download. He's an award-winning photographer. He's a Buddhist practitioner and a grandparent and is married to the amazing Susan. He's starring in a fantastic FX drama series called The Old Man. He plays a former CIA agent, Dan Chase, which earned him an Emmy nomination. I've seen it. It's just an amazing series. I really encourage you to watch it. And season two is airing now. So, such an honor to call him a friend. Here is Jeff Bridges.

Okay. Have you been well? Yes. We're on, by the way. Oh, we're on. We're going. So, yes. I have been well.

I am blessed with, as are you, one of the, you know, I'm with the most perfect human being in the world for me. God, isn't marriage just a wonderful thing? Yeah. Especially, well. Well, so is Susan. We're in the same league here. Oh, God. But marriage, that opportunity to play with the so-called other, and you're doing that together, and you get to be, and you're in this in this playing field say we're going to do this for we're attached we're yes and then to be able to jam like

that and the opposite the opposite is that's all you know makes it even better you know how different we are absolutely and to go this period of life, which definitely you do see the arc of life at this time. Yeah. I'm 76, about to be 77. To have a partner at this time that all you do is laugh with. When one of us is in fear, the other one can go, hey, it's okay. We're all right. To be witnessed is amazing.

And to have the growth continue. Because it's basically all about intimacy, right? I mean, that's the high, right? And that's what we kind of go for in life, not only with people, but the whole deal. And to have a partner,

man, that you can do that with and that can remind you. Hey, can I jump in? Because I can i jump in because i want to jump into because it's coming off of partner and uh oh i almost could almost tear up thinking about susan more than you because i i have been in a hospital with pneumonia and look at mary and see the fact that she wasn't sure which way this was going to go. But it's the partner to that moment in your life where you had COVID and went into the hospital for a month.

Is that right? Yeah. And it was, you didn't know. No, I had cancer. Right. Yeah. Before that. Before that.

Can I tell the story quickly? Yes try yes please i would not quickly well i'm doing the old man you know sue and i uh we're gonna go to montana we were all excited about it and i'm on the floor and i'm feeling my stomach doing some stomach exercises i feel like i've got a bone in my stomach. There's no bones there. They say, yeah, you ought to get that checked out. No, no, it doesn't hurt. We go to Montana for two months, hiking around. Come back and we got two weeks before old man's going to start up again.

I said, I better get the thing checked out here. Check it out. I've got a nine by 12 inch mass in my stomach. Nine by 12 inch. Inside my stomach. And I think of the old man doing all those fight scenes with this thing in my stomach. Wow. And other than feeling it, you didn't have any other sensation about not well? No, no pain, no pain. Oh, well, in Montana, I would have night sweats. And I said, oh, that's because it's hot and humid and I'm sweating at night.

And my shins itched, and it felt so great to scratch them. Two signs that you have lymphoma. Now when I start scratching my leg I'm fucked. Does it feel good to scratch your leg? Yeah. So, I get the thing removed.

This incredible doctor, so gifted. And he tells you it's cancerous? Oh, yeah. It's a big, it's cancerous or no? yeah it's a big lymphoma cancer yeah and they had a very hard time figuring out

what kind of cancer it was what was the right cocktail medicine for it and they finally found this I wish I could get in memory. I can't recall the names of the drugs now as I'm trying to remember,

but they gave me this one thing they tried, and the thing just imploded, just because it wasn't something you operated on. You had to find the cocktail, and it shrunk down to the size of a pea, and it's remained that way now. I have MRIs every once in a while. Right. But in this treatment, I'm going to the treatment, getting that when it's working.

January 6th, I come home. I'm seeing on TV what's happening. And I say, oh, this is wild. What the hell? It's surreal. You've got a letter.

Oh, okay. I get this letter. Open this card. It's from the treatment center where I've been getting. He says, you've been exposed to COVID. I said, what? What does that mean? You know, a couple of days later, I found out what it meant, you know, because this treatment.

You had no immune system. I had no. It just stripped. That was the idea of it. And so that COVID made the cancer look like nothing, man. For a month, right? For a month in the hospital. And, you know, we didn't know about, you know, again, Sue, you know, she would ask, is he going to die? You know, they wouldn't. They wouldn't say no. They wouldn't say no, you know, we didn't know about, you know, again, Sue, you know, she would ask, is he going to die?

You know, they wouldn't. They wouldn't say no. They wouldn't say no, you know. And she said, you know, she used a lot of cuss words, said, you better not let him die. But she's a very strong, strong woman. Yeah. I sometimes think it's almost easier to be the patient in a way. Oh, gosh. Because you know what. Oh, gosh, so much more. Because you know what you're dealing with.

So much more. I mean, and, you know, it's almost a cliche, but times like that, you hear people say, that was a gift, and that you really get a present that you can't get any other way than going to that. Being humbled. Yeah, to that place, you know. Did you know, oh, this is dangerous? Or were you just too busy dealing with the moment-to-moment of not feeling great? Do you know what I mean?

Did you have a philosophical thought of, oh, this could be it? I was filled with that stuff over some big time, man. You say, oh, people die die and this is me doing that i said okay interesting part to play okay i'm up for it you know you know it was an actor you're going you don't i don't know how to do it yeah yeah you're just gonna do it and that then it will be done and that's what happened you know i said oh, this is me. This is me. I'm okay. And the doctors would come up to me. I'm down and really low.

You got to fight, Jeff. You're not fighting. You got to fight. I said, what the fuck is he talking about? Fight. I don't know. How does one fight? How does one fight? And I was in surrender mode.

Just like, take me. Do it. Do it, too. How does one fight in that situation? And I was in surrender mode. Yeah. Just like, take me. Do it. Do it. I was working with your brother, Bo, at that moment. Oh, man. Were you? Yeah.

What shot? I think Mr. Mayor, and he had a tour, whatever, episode arc. So we talked a lot about you. That's how I knew what you were going on. And he mentioned that, well, you know, Jeff, he just went, well, here's something else I get to experience in life and kind of embraced it. Yeah. Until some doctor said no. That was the only assignment, you know, to surrender what's going down, you know.

Yeah. But, you know, there's so many different ways to approach it. That was one of the good things I learned during that experience. Some people, fighting is what required for that person, you know. Now, my daughter, Jessie, lived with Sue while I was going through this thing. She moved down from Oakland. Oh, good for her. Wonderful. Both of them experienced the whole thing completely different.

You know, their strategy about how do I deal with my loved one who's going to die. And it was interesting to see that. And coming to the realization, all of us, isn't it interesting? We all react to this so-called similar thing in such unique ways. And can we love each other and hold compassion for our own weirdness and everyone else's that doesn't quite fit the picture? You learn stuff, man. Lots of stuff. This wasn't Mary and myself, but the mother of my kids had a massive stroke during the delivery.

I was just going to ask, is it okay to tell that story? Talk about that, because that is amazing, man. I'm just saying that how you hold it differently, it was similar in many ways. But the point, the reason why I brought it up just now was afterwards, after she was out of the woods, she was still dealing with it. I mean, she had to deal with it her whole life. It had an impact on her physicality. We would go, let's go to a movie. We'd finally, you know, we had a babysitter for Kate, our daughter, and we'd go, we'd get to the parking lot and never get past the parking lot because we would have these

fights that were basically, where were you when I was having this stroke? Why didn't you keep that from happening? Which was conceivably a valid question. And mine was even more irrational. I don't trust you anymore. You almost died. You said you were not going to leave me ever. You almost died.

Go on. No, I'm just confused because Mary had a heavy operation. I thought you were going to tell that story. No, no. This is another whole story. But they both had strokes? No, no, no. Mary was a brain operation.

Let me clear that up right away. Yeah. Mary, this is a different kind of brain story. Mary, about 15 years ago, I think it had happened to her before you guys worked together on Open Road. She went in to have a something.

I don't know. It was a band date, in essence, to walk out. But they had to put her under completely, which means anesthetic on the whole thing. Anesthesia. And probably let her blood pressure drop too low. And maybe there was a little mini stroke or a little something that happened. You know, nothing that she walked out thinking of.

Actually, she was told that years later by somebody who said, I bet I know what happened, a doctor. Anyway, she came out of that with a brain that operated differently. Literally, she went from somebody who had a normal relationship to music, loved it, appreciated it, didn't really play an instrument, to somebody who was obsessed and could not stop hearing music in her head. You know, she says in hindsight, she wasn't any different than that five-year-old musician who picked up a guitar and started playing at five and had music. You know, they probably obsess on music too.

But she went from zero to 100 overnight. I thought I was married to somebody different. Talk about a gift in a so-called bad thing. Yeah. So, yeah, she became a... She's a songwriter. A songwriter. She works for Universal.

I want to go back. Okay, so this is how I first met you, was through your daddy. Your dad, Lloyd, and I made a movie called Cousins, which was from the French Cousin Cuisine. Of course, of course. And he was brilliant in it and so sweet to me. He played my father.

And afterwards, just started including me in some of, even a family meal or two of yours. Oh, you got the head of my mom. Yes, Dorothy. You got the head of my mom. Oh, big head of your mom. Wasn't she wild? Magnificent.

But you were very rock and roll at that point. You were kind of at the height of your... I'm trying to figure out how many years ago that was. How old were you? In your 30s? This was 80, maybe 85, 86. So you were off and running in a big way. How old were you at that time?

I'm guessing 38, 37, 38, something like that. Isabella Rossolini was in it. Yeah, mid-30s. Yeah, I can't remember what I was doing at that time. But I'll tell you, I don't remember the exact movie, but you were, I was awestruck, and you were kind of in the corner doing music with either bow or something.

I don't know what you were doing, but it had a guitar. And that's my first glimpse of you. And then I think I may have bumped into it, and we'll talk about some of these things. I think at a fundraiser for No Kids Hungry, didn't you start that years ago? Yeah. Oh, yeah. So I bumped into you because of that. And then I think moguls, the amateurs. The moguls. Now, you see, isn't that such a bittersweet, as you say that word, I get all these kind of sad, happy emotions.

Why sad? Well, because it was among, I think, about five or six other movies that were financed by this guy who was a total crook, and the movie never got released. You know, and I mean, you can see it. Yeah, I think it's online. You know, it's called The Amateurs.

Yes. But we did it when it was called The Moguls. Yeah. And we had such a great time, man. It's actually kind of brilliant. Don't you think? Oh, it is funny. It's tone.

It's as if Frank Capra made a porn film, but its tone is kind of unique, you know? I mean, and this guy, Mike Traeger, who directed it and wrote it, was such a dream to work with. Wonderful guy. Oh, yeah. And all of the cast, you know?

You had some of the best character actors around. Oh, gosh. And Joey Pants, you know? Oh, yeah. But that, you know, as we talk movies, all these yeah because they're like little lifetimes aren't they they're all kind of like connected and you know you were family little family yeah yeah like we're related in a sense you know yes you my father played your father yeah yep that was an amazing. That was your second and you were nominated for an Oscar. Yeah.

Wow. Did that mess you up? No. No, it didn't. It wasn't like, Oh, no,

no, I have something to live up to. Or, Oh, let me say, no, I don't think it did. I was so surprised,

you know, it was back in the day when there was no PR push, you know, for a thing, you know, you know, there was none of that. And I remember I'm, you know, for a thing, you know, there was none of that. And I remember I'm, you know, a 19, 20-year-old kid waking up in the bed at four o'clock in

the morning and somebody saying, you know, you've nominated for the Academy. What are you talking about? You know, out of nowhere. And it was a thrill. And as far as, you know, fame, you know, like you mentioned my dad, you know, with Sea Hunt and his fame in the 60s. Yeah, I was, you know, pretty, so fame, I saw how he handled it. And I handled it basically the same way. I'm assuming he taught you well.

Because I've never seen fame or anything or publicity or anything about you that wasn't, that was you spinning out because of success. Oh, yeah. He, he did. He, I mean, he took both of you, the whole family under his wing, right? And you were a theatrical family. You worked with him. Oh, man. Oh, yeah.

So many showbiz family, you know, the parents, the get the kids, don't go into it. My dad was just the opposite. He loved all the aspects of it. The publicity, the signing autographs, of course, the acting. And he was, you know, really a schooled actor. You know, when that Sea Hunt TV show happened, he was so successful and he was so good in it that people thought, oh, he's a skin diver.

Yeah. So that's the kind of scripts that he was offered. But he could do anything. It was, there's a part of my uncle in a movie called Blown Away. And I went up to the guy and I said, hey, I got somebody who kind of looks like me,

you know, good actor. What do you think, Lloyd Bridges, you ever heard of this guy? And he said, oh yeah. But he's, he's really more of a comic. I say, what are you talking about? Oh, he's thinking airplane. Airplane. You know what I mean? And I say, are you kidding me? You're going to make the guy come in and read for the part? And he said, Woody, you know, and so my dad of course came in and, you know, nailed it. But, uh, my dad, um, he taught me all the, all the basics, you know, when I was, uh, a kid, maybe eight and he was doing sea hunt and there was a, you know, when I was a kid, maybe eight, and he was doing sea hunt, and there was a, you

know, a part for a little kid. He'd say, hey, you want to, you know, come to work and play with dad? And now he, you know, all right, now do my lines. I remember sitting on his bed, and we'd do line neckies. Now go back, go out there, and do it, do it completely differently. Now come in with a different attitude, you know, all those different things. How wonderful. Oh, my God. But the main thing that you experienced from him that he taught me, that it wasn't anything he necessarily said,

but how he approached the work was with such joy. Did you dig that? And joy and seriousness. Oh, serious. Oh, yes. But he was having a good time. Yes. See, I remember, I clocked you once during Moguls the film when we were working together

and you, I don't know why this should surprise me, but you're about ready to start a scene, but there's 30 seconds or a minute, and you would immediately start improvising. And you didn't make a big announcement.

You just said, hey, let's try this, and you'd start. And it was so effortlessly getting you in the mood to go pretend in this scene. And there was a seriousness. Now, we're good actors. We're serious actors. Let's give it everything we've got kind of feeling

that that trickles down I think around you you know what comes to mind as stories are triggered is Kevin Bacon

have you ever worked with Kevin? never had the pleasure met him several times so we're doing a big you know special effects you know crazy movie together and now it's got all the principal players in the So we're doing a big special effects crazy movie together

and now it's got all the principal players in the room and it's a big special effect thing and a lot of lines we have to say and it's a complicated scene and Kevin calls us together and he says

remember guys everything depends on this. So it had such English on it, right? That's ridiculous. We're making a movie. But yeah, you're right. This moment, this is it, man. Everything depends on what we're going to do.

I love that. When done well, acting is a great gift to how to live your life. Well, that was like, you know, saying my dad just encouraged us, you know. And I remember when I was saying, I don't know, I'm kind of into my music, Dad. He says, Jeff, don't be ridiculous. They're going to call upon all of your dreams and talents. That's what it's all about. You'll get to do that, you know.

And you might win an Academy Award. Yeah, not in my wildest dreams, you know. On the way in today, I wanted to uh i obviously couldn't read i was driving so i went i know and i had alexa play uh jeff bridges music and up came you know um crazy crazy it is so good jeff the music and now who wrote that? Did you write it or who wrote the actual lyrics? Well, the guy who I mentioned, John Goodwin, wrote one of the tunes. Anyway, he wrote the title song. But T-Bone.

T-Bone Burnett. And Stephen Bruton wrote the majority of the songs. And then Greg Brown. Are you hip to Greg Brown? I don't think I am. I'm sure Mary is. Yeah, because he's a great writer. He gave us a song.

Wow. Maggie was good in that, too. Jill and Hall. Wasn't she great? Had you worked with her before? No, but I know her family. She was so wonderful to work with gosh really good let me do one more memory then i have other places i would love to go with you but

uh so we had moguls which was you know for me uh an amazing highlight um and but uh we'll do this later i'm looking as i'm saying speaking jumping around, you're an astounding photographer, and you do books and photographs. This will trigger different thoughts as you look at this. Yeah, photographs of everything you've ever been in since, I can't remember when, which movie. Starman. Starman. Yeah. Anyway, you and Mary were in a film together, Open Road, with Kate Mara and...

Justin Timberlake. Justin Timberlake and... Oh, and Harry Dean. Harry Dean. Stanton, yeah. And we had one night, we rehearsed at our home in Ojai. And you stayed nearby in some bed and breakfast. But we had Justin Timberlake and a

few other, Kate Mara. I've got pictures of that. All staying in our home. And then at night, we had the most, I remember one night, I think Bill Paxton came over. He lived nearby. And there was this hootenanny, You know, you guys. I can't remember if Justin sang, but what knocked me out besides you was Harry Dean's stand. Oh, yeah. Yeah, his Spanish ballads. Oh, yeah.

Well, Google, yeah, you can Google Harry Dean. He had a standing gig, didn't he, in L.A. for years. Oh, yeah, I think so. Yeah, he was very good. And he said he didn't speak a word of Spanish. And yet, his, you know,

it was all in Spanish, all those things he was singing. And it was just, you truly thought it was... Yeah, he's remarkable. Paris, Texas, you know, what a great movie that was. He, right before the first time

you did a table read, we were making breakfast for everybody. I was the caterer on that film. And Harry was outside and asked me for a cup of coffee. And I brought it to him and he said, could you put a little something in it? And I thought he meant like cream or sugar or something. No, he needed just a little shot of something, you know, tequila in his coffee, because he was nervous, and it was the read-through,

and it was just, I don't know why, it just touched me so much. We're talking, you triggered a scene that I have with Harry Dean in a movie called Rancho Deluxe. Yes. And it's the movie I met my wife on. Yes. And there's a scene. It was a bold choice, man.

It's kind of like the climax of the movie. This is online, people, wherever your camera is. You can check this scene out. Harry Dean, Jeff Bridges, ping pong. Or, yeah, no, pong. Just the game pong. And it's kind of the climax of the movie and the director decided to do this rather long scene with us playing pong and in our reflection that was the

whole thing and all it was i thought it was a great scene man and of course there's improvisation involved because you don't know if you're going to make the shot or not. It was wonderful. You know how good that feels, you know, capture something real. But Harry Dean, wow, what a gift he was. Yeah, amazing. Amazing. You won a nomination. Was that with Clint Eastwood? Rancho Deluxe?

Yeah, no, no, no. That was Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Oh, sorry. But Rancho Deluxe was with my buddy Tom McGuane. Was Sam Waterston in that? Sam Waterston was in it, man. I've done a couple of things with Sam. You must have done some.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I love the fact that somebody, that when you went up to Susan on that movie, you saw something, well, I should let you tell it, but someone captured that moment on film. Oh, well, you know, we were talking about how wonderful marriage is. And whenever I have a little slight doubt of it, this image comes to mind of what happened

that you're talking about. So I'm in the hot tub at Chico Hot Springs in Montana with Sam and Harry Dean and Richard Bright. Do you remember Richard Bright? Yeah, yeah. And we're in this hot tub, and I'm looking around. I see this girl in this bandana. She's gorgeous, and I can't take my eyes off her. I'm just drawn to her, and she's got two black eyes

and a broken nose, juxtaposed to that beauty, and I'm going, and I finally, you know, it's tough to ask a girl out, you know, it's tough to do that, you know, to say, hey, you want to go out, you know, but I finally, you know, got myself together, and saw her there as we were rapping, and I said, you know, would you like to, you know, hi, I'm Jeff. Would you like to go out with me tonight? And she says, no. No. I said, oh, really? She says, no, it's a small town. Maybe I'll see you around. I said, okay. Now we cut 30 years later. Turns out that her prophecy did prove to come true, that we met at the wrap party,

danced and fell in love, and I could make a long story. I'm going to go short, but now we cut 30 years later, and we've been married now about 25 years, and I'm going through my mail, and I get this letter from this guy who is the makeup man on Rancho Deluxe, the show that I met Sue.

And he said, I was going through my files and I saw this picture of you talking to a local girl. And he sent it and there's a picture of me asking Sue out, and her saying, no, click. And I have that. He took a close-up of her, too, so I have that two shots. I've seen them.

I must have seen them. I'm so proud. If I was looking for my wallet, I don't have it. But, yeah, that's whenever I think. Did he know that it was your turn? No, no, that's what I mean. He just said, some local girl. No, that's what I mean. That have it. But yeah, that's, so whenever I think. Did he know that it was your, turned out to be some local girl? No, that's what I did.

That's it. He had no idea. I love that. That's fantastic. Talk to me a little bit about the Cullen brothers. Oh.

You did what, two? Have you worked, well, you did. I never have. But you did the TV show that was based on Fargo. You were so good in that.

Yeah, those turned out to be great. They really did, didn't they? I kept thinking, why are you remaking the TV? No, yeah, exactly. That's what I said to the Coen brothers when they wanted me to do True Grit. I said, why are you making this? John Wayne did that big thing, and you're going to remake it? Won an Academy Award.

And they said, yeah, exactly. They said, have you read the Charles Portis book? I said, no. I said, read it. And I read it. It's like, oh, it reads like a Coen brothers script. Yeah, yeah. So I say, oh, obvious, you know.

But, oh, gosh, they're wonderful to work with. Wait, wasn't, am I thinking here of Big Lebowski? Lebowski was Coen Brothers. Yeah. Great. Yeah, yeah. So everybody, I think the dude was written knowing you. Yeah, that's what they said.

Oh, really? They did? Oh, yeah. They said, you know, I saw Blood Simple, and I was knocked. I said, oh mean that's what they said oh really they did oh yeah they said you know after i saw blood simple and i was not that's great and then they say we've written something for you so really and they said i said what this is like nothing like i've ever done but somehow i love that sometimes people approach you going, thinking like the dude is some, you know, creation that made you be. No, you are the dude. You always have been and still are. I guess there's a portion of me that is definitely who I am.

Yeah, I don't mean there wasn't artistry involved. But that kind of happy-go-lucky, but, you know, deep water is going on behind the eyes. Oh, gosh. But they were incredible to work with. What a great show. You know, this little book that you said, talked about, that we did, I have books like that from Starman up to, you know, fairly recently, much of it. So I got my Lebowski book. I can go through that and boom, boom, each of those images, I remember. And, you know, working with John Goodman, you know, you must've worked with him sometime, huh? I haven't. Married him. I have not. So he was such a cool guy. Really cool. And we had rehearsal, you know, as I said with the Coen brothers,

they write so well that it all seems like improvisation often. Yeah, you're right. But no, man, you stuck to it. You wanted to play the music as it was written on there. You could interpret it and give ideas and stuff, and they were open for that. But there it was, you know, give ideas and stuff. And they were open for that. But there it was, you know. And we stuck to every fuck, every man in the right place, you know.

Because it was like music, you know. Yeah, it really was. It was brilliant. And we had the time to work with it. And I think we did some improv to kind of discover the realness of the scene. But the, you know, so much I look for in a director is just the attitude that they create on the set, right? You know, how it's all going to happen. And they've just said this thing about, you know, what popped in my mind, the different kinds of directors, hot directors, cold directors, you know, hot directors say,

yeah, oh, yeah, you know, they're really enthusiastic, but genuinely so, and that's wonderful. And then there's the cool guys say, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, there's like, there's no big deal. We're just here doing our thing, No, nothing important, you know. And that kind of, that's a little bit more their thing. And then there's some people also that make you feel like you have carte blanche. That you can do no wrong.

Whatever choice you make is going to be perfect. They may direct you and move you, but that feeling of, oh, I'm in the groove and I can do no wrong is a wonderful place to act from. I remember Chimino, Michael Chimino, his first movie, Thunderbolt and Lifeblood, one of my early movies,

and I remember riding the Harley up in Montana, you know, and preparing for this character and thinking about who he was. And about two days before we started shooting, I went into Mike's office and I said, oh, man, I'm so sorry. I mean, why? I led you down this road for, I'm not right for this part. I can't, I don't know who this, you know, I'm sorry.

I apologize. I'll do everything I can. Of course, you don't have to pay me. But, you know, God, I just can't do it, Mike, you know. And Mike said, you know the game tag? And I said, yeah. You're it. And I i said what do you mean he says you're it it's like what you said you couldn't make a mistake if you wanted to because you're it yeah wow interesting acting lesson yeah that was with clint yeah that must have been a jimino you

know after that we did uh Heaven's Gate, right? For about two years or something. Where he would do 60 takes, you know. And Thunderbolt and Life, Clint, you know, only liked to do one, maybe two, maybe three at the top. As an actor, not just as the director. Well, he was a producer. He gave Cimino his shot to direct this thing. And Cimino wrote it, too.

So I go up to Mike and I say, oh, I got an idea. What if I do this? And he said, well, you have to go to the boss, you know. And Clint would, you know, hear it. And you go, yeah, I'll give the kid a shot. That's crazy. Have you ever worked with my co-star here here woody harrelson no but i every time i cannot believe that you have my we bump into each other get immediate boom you know yeah just

oh yeah man you would love him oh i do i mean i admire his acting so much. Me too. And just his character, you know, from, you know, I've probably Google surfed him, you know, but I always dig him. Yeah. Yeah. He has one of the world's best dispensaries. I try to plug it whenever I can. Yeah, but isn't it interesting? Now he's not smoking or does he smoke?

Oh, yeah. He does. Yeah, it depends on what day of the week, but yes, he does. Not when he works. Yeah. I was terrified that when we started doing this that uh i was gonna have to be stoned with him every day to do this and you know no no i don't know when i work yeah yeah yeah i'm like that too yeah yeah i can't smoke now because of my lungs

and my you know my health but i'll do this the tincture occasionally. I take a gummy to go to help with, because I have a lot of arthritis, so I wake up kind of uncomfortable in the middle of the night. So I take this gummy that has percentage of THC. Of course. And I've always said it just helps me sleep. One night, our dog woke us up like about four hours into my sleep which i've never been awake for i was i was i woke up going what the fuck is wrong with me i really oh you're stoned oh you're really stoned you know right but i had never been awake for the stone exactly isn't it

amazing how uh pot you know remember when we were in high school, you know. Buds and twigs. But it rests. I mean, you get busted and now it's become a big health thing. And it's, you know, people are looking at it so differently. Rightfully so. Although now, because when I go to work, I need every, you know, brain cell showing up for work. Absolutely.

To be able to pull it off. It's like, no. And then a couple of our kids are like having in-house narcs. And then we have grandkids. So the idea of you have actually an evening to pull this off is, you know, far and few between. I'm just trying to tell our audience that we're not stoned right now. We're responsible people.

Absolutely. Music. Do music. You started, you were going to be more a music guy than you were an actor, right? Yeah. Well, I don't know. I mean, you know, both my parents and my mom, too, who is very gung-ho. You know, what kid wants to do what their parents want them to do when they're teenagers? You know, I resist.

I noticed that in my life. I resist a lot, but it's kind of served me well in a funny sort of way, I think. And you resisted what, piano lessons? I resist so much things thing i resisted piano lessons now that's a resistance i'm sorry i made because uh you know i remember my last piece was for elise you know and i bitch bitch i don't want to do it mommy okay but you're going to be sorry. And she's so right. Now, I play, but nothing like I would have been able to play if I had done some wood shedding.

And that's the way I feel about the guitar. Kids like to play on video games. Well, some kids back in the day, video game was this. And they just, to have that, it'd be so facile. Do you write lyrics and compose stuff? So, you compose on guitar or piano? Both. Yeah.

How about Mary? She has done piano. It's slower for her because she's not totally proficient, but she can. She's composed two or three songs on her own on the piano. And then,icient, but she can. She's composed two or three songs on her own on the piano. And then, okay, one other thing,

or many other things, but how did No Kid Hungry? Tell me the origin of that and the why and the how. Yeah, well, it goes back, right? Well, tell me, sorry, tell me what it is first.

I can't describe enough, but obviously it's about feeding kids. I'm going to tell you about what kind of what it is I've got to tell the story. I'll do an acting challenge to try to truncate in a creative, elegant way.

Don't truncate. Well, back in, when was Est? 70, for me, 75. You did Est. I did in New York. Yeah, yeah. So you remember The Hunger Project. Yeah.

And you remember Werner Erhardt. Yes. He's become sort of a controversial cat. I got a lot out of it. I got a lot out of it. I went with Sue. She didn't dig it at all. No, Mary wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole.

I love it. But I got off on, as an acting thing, it was like little inner improvs, and so it was wild. But then his Hunger Project was, really moved me when he presented the problem, the existence of hunger, the fact that it doesn't have to be that way, that we know how to end it. And it's not about scarcity, you know, it's about

creating the political will. Which finally gets down to the will of us who elect the politicians. And to not just make a gesture, like, you know, you see a guy in the corner, you feel sorry for him, you give him 10 bucks,

that eases your guilt. Do something that is sustainable, something that you can keep doing until it's done, until the job is done. And one that fits into your zone, your wheelhouse, you know. So I asked myself, what can I do? I said, well, I'm in the entertainment business. I do all these promotions.

I'm doing what I'm doing right now, pitching something. Now you're asking me, I got to talk about it, right? So I said, oh, I can find some other guys and we can make an organization that supports communicating this problem and what can be done about it. So we created this, the End Hunger Network. And that was wonderful. I would go to Washington to do a lot of lobbying. And I'd have my things that I want to tell this senator, and I'd get the meeting, and I'd say my thing,

and the guy who's getting it, he goes, wonderful, gosh. I'm going to look into that. That's really incredible. Joey, let's get a shot of me and Mr. Bridges. And then he'll walk down the hall after the meeting and say, what just happened here? That's a gunslinger, man. This is what he, he got what he wanted. And he, yeah.

And it, it, it really took the wind out of my sails. And then I met, I was doing something at the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Barbara. And I meet this guy, Billy Shore, who has an organization called Share Our Strength. And we started both of these about, you know, my organization, the Ant Hunger Network, and his started about the same time. Anyway, he came up to me and says, hey, I want to make a proposition to you. I want you to be the spokesperson for No Kid Hungry. I said, well, what's that? He said, well, rather than concentrating on the feds

and how they can change the situation, we're working with mayors and governors and local people. People who are answerable. Yeah, and who are there and really firsthand. And so he pitched this idea and it just sunk in. And we've had just incredible results doing it that way. And that trickles up to the politicians, you know. Yep.

So that's kind of, and basically it's getting nutrition to kids that need it that they can't afford it. You know, school programs and summer is particularly, you know, tough time for kids, but there's numbers that they can call. And, you know, I mean, I'm very happy to be involved with it. I discovered through my work with ocean activism that my job is to stand in front of the tent and say, thank you for watching. Cheers. Appreciate it. I'd love to have you meet this marine biologist who's standing behind me. She has something really important to say. That has kind of always been my job. But by being consistent, like you just described with hunger, you, you learn a lot.

You're not just a spokesperson. You really do know, which gives you a lot of credit, you know, I think, you know, you, you end up, yeah. Thank you. He's been here for a long time. This is a worthwhile thing. He's not just fly by night. Uh-huh.

Well, you know, what, what, what you're saying triggers in me is that subject we started the whole conversation with, marriage. And I had just thought, to marry life or to marry the world and your dream,

that relationship of like, you can do what you want, but we're here. This is what we're doing. This is what we're doing, meaning this is life. This is what we're doing. This is life, and we're married, so you can bitch about it. And that's totally fine, because I'm going to bitch at you back at you, too.

But here we are together. We're married. What kind of marriage do you want? What do you, you know? Oh, you want intimacy. you you know oh you want intimacy oh well what does that look like what does that mean well i want to um you know i uh what's scary is it's asking you i uh take me to my edge yeah take me where i don't want to go and and help me grow in that spot you know and life will do that. You know, like with the hunger thing, I had to give myself a little caveat, you know,

because what Werner was initially asking, that's big stuff, you know, to make that kind of commitment and think, oh, you know, I'll probably fail. And I was supposed to sign, you know, like they had a thing you could sign you know so the little caveat that i made in my mind to be able to sign on was that um go to the light to this dream that you're realizing is you know the truth as far as you can see, go towards that. But if it gets too heavy or you don't, asking too much, you can just turn around and just, you know, feel the light on your back. You don't have to do it, but you're in it. You're married to the idea. And then you can turn around and do those things. So as I approach the hunger work, they'll ask something that I go, I was going to do this, I was going to do that.

And sometimes I'll go like that and just say, you know, it's okay to say no. It's okay to say no. And then sometimes they'll say, you know, and I do this with myself every once in a while, I'll say, I'm going to do a little experiment on myself. I'm going to do it when I don't feel like doing it. See what happens.

And I'll do it, and boom, a bloom will happen. That gift. That little gift that the challenge gives you. But I think having that caveat in your brain also probably keeps you from just quitting. Oh, yes, totally. I can let some steam off. You don't have to break. You can bend with this stuff, you know.

Yeah. Yeah, and that's what's allowed me. And then to get that little kick of like, oh, no, this is me following my dream. This is where I'm needed. This is the part that I can play to see that. And when you, oh, I'm in the groove. I'm in that for the next one.

And you remember that feeling and you can carry that on. It also makes fame and celebrity something you can make use of. It has a purpose. Oh, yeah. Other than just kind of ego, you can go, oh, it's okay to make use of that has a purpose other than just kind of ego, you can go, oh, it's okay to make use of Jeff Bridges, the movie star, because I'm going to go try to work on this hunger thing and make use of my celebrity like other people do,

but I'm going to use it too. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think that saved me early on. For some reason, I learned that during kind of the height of cheers. I bumped into an ocean advocate who was trying to stop Occidental Petroleum from slant drilling into Santa Monica Bay. Oh, yeah. And we worked together and found a solution and beat them.

And it was very naive, but some part of me, and to be honest, I was stoned. I know I was. I was en route to some event, some probably award show, and I was a with the idea, basically the idea of starting an environmental organization and hiring this environmental lawyer, my friend. And it was like this naive thing, but then, sorry, this is longer than... No, this is naivete.

I love... Talking about going to Washington, the first time we announced our little organization, and no one was really focusing on oceans in the mid-'80s that much. And so we decided to go to Washington and Congress announced this, and we had very sweet people, Al Gore and Barbara of the, Barbara Boxer and all of the California delegates, you know, standing behind me in this big, huge press room in Washington, you know, wood things. And I literally, it's the only time in my life I've experienced what it means to have an out-of-body experience. it was so powerful and probably some part of me knew oh this is going to be your life's work that i literally found myself looking down at myself talking and in the whole room and it lasted

about three or four seconds then i said you better fucking focus on what you're saying and i came back into my body but i had one of those moments of oh, this is where you're meant to be. Yeah, that's right. And we often, all through life, we resist that, don't we? Yep. We fight. Talk about fighting. We fight against it. I think it was her saying something about we're not afraid of failing,

but we're afraid of really being as great as that opportunity and the possibility. And that's frightening. I can really, I think that's true. And you have to sacrifice a lot. You have to give up your ego. You have to give up your, you know, you have to be willing not to be right all the time. You have to get over yourself. You have all these things that you have to let go of.

Yeah, it's like this stranger says in Lebowski, you know, Sam Elliott, you know, says, yeah, sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you. You can know all the tricks, all your strategies, you know. Life, you're just, you know. Mary and I have this joke that is sadly not an exaggeration. Whenever she has an idea, and I go, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We both know that this is a brilliant idea she came up with. I'm like the rag tail to her kite.

It's like I'm always trying to pull her back in. That's how Sue is with me. And I love that, man. That's so wonderful. Gosh, that's a great thing. Sue and I, we have fewer and fewer now. It's like I kind of miss in a way, our

prime battle, the prime evil battle that goes back, you know, before we, anything. And we have, we've developed this method. When we get like that, we'll get a little closer than we are now, you know,

like I'm just looking at each other's eyes, and whoever wants to go first can go first, and they just say their thing until they've run out, and then the other person, while they're saying their thing, you're not making notes on what I'm going to say in my rebuttal, you're not making notes on what i'm gonna say my rebuttal you're just receiving that's your task and then that's switched and the other person says her thing and that person is just to receive it and get it what it's like having a relationship with you and and what what you do all the time man you don't get it you know and i you know and what came so clear to me many years is, God, you're so true. I don't get it.

And you don't get me. And here we are, we're married. Yeah. What do we do about that? Isn't it wonderful that neither one of us, but we're in love and just accept that edge. It's the same kind of edge when you're asked to love this person, and it grows and it grows, and finally it gets so big. It's so precious, man. And so we haven't had one of those. And they happen kind of more solemn because you're getting this buildup of intimacy. We had one the other day.

And it was slight, and you kind of learned on it. You say, oh, no, it's just, and you go, yeah, and you're running that in your mind. And I regret a little bit not cashing in and say, come on, let's sit and do our exercise here. And then, of course, because you remembered that answer, what it's all about, but you forgot it. You had another chance to hit it again, but no, you let it go, and now it slips back into where it was. Timing, huh? Yeah.

When you pull the trigger on things. Trust, too? Yeah. When you, you know, when you trust too. Trust. I think we're both blessed, lucky, whatever. But if you don't have, if you're not with somebody who isn't willing to look at themselves, it's not very conducive

for you to look at yourself. Are you hip to Byron Katie? Tell me. Oh, she's really interesting. She's this woman. Her history is fascinating. I'm not going to go into that, but Google her.

I think both you and Mary would dig her. Because she had this shift, like Mary's shift. She had this kind of an enlightened shift. Anyway, she was really down to the up. She developed this thing called the work. You heard of that? Yeah, and I've heard of that. Go on.

And so, like, if you had a problem, like, you know, Mary never listens to my good ideas. And there's a worksheet that you fill out, you know. And you don't try to be, you know that was and there's a worksheet that you fill out you know and you you don't try to be you know enlightened or anything you just do you know it's that hard feeling you write it down and then the first question that you're asked is that true and then you write you know why that's true and then the second question is, are you certain that that is true? And that just opens it all up, you know. And then I'm going to run through it very quickly.

You can edit this down. But then I think the next one is, what would you feel like if you didn't have that feeling? And then I can't remember what the fourth was. And then there's the turnaround where you replace what you said about the person like you know uh i never listened to mary's you know you try and you just you don't not to make you feel just to sit with those different words that yeah it's like music you know how does that make you feel you know yeah and that's that's something uh that i think is useful. It is. I have this thing I've noticed recently where the only time anger

is kind of in the air with us. First off, it's usually, there's either fear or love, I think, in the world. And if you're coming from fear, nothing good will come of it, really. And if both of us are in fear, we're screwed. We're going to have some anger. If one of us is in fear, the other one can go, no, I get it, but it's all right. He's just scared. It's okay. We'll be fine. When we're both in fear, that's when, and I realize

I only get angry at Mary when I'm wrong, because I don't want to be that person you just reflected, you know, that mirror you stuck in my face. I don't want to be that. And I'm pissed off that you're making me look at this person I don't want to be. But value it. Now, who else in the world could do that? I know. We're so fortunate to have the problem, right? The challenge.

And if she's wrong, I'm fine. It's like, oh, that's sweet. Look, she's wrong. But it's almost always me getting mad because I don't want to be who I just realized I am. And it's all inner work, isn't it? It's all, you know, it's wild. Let's talk about your show for a second oh yeah the old man it is brilliant by the way i saw the first season i i had read this script for some

reason and it it was an amazing script yeah and it's so pleasurable to believably see somebody i don't know how old you were when you started that, but 70 maybe? Oh yeah, probably. I can't remember. But whatever, it's called The Old Man. And The Old Man fucking kicks ass. Because he's been around the block.

Yeah, well you've got several old men. You've got John Lithgow. Who's one of my favorite actors on the planet. He's so great. And then you have Joel, you know, who kind of trumps us all, Joel Gray. Yeah. Who's like in his 90s. Yes.

And he's wonderful to work with. But yeah, the script, you know. And as I mentioned the word resist, and I resist things, that's how I kind of went into this. As I go into both things. I spend so much energy, you know, when somebody says, hey, what about this? And I start to resist because I think of all of the things that it will imply, you know, all the time away from my family, all the other things that I want to do that I can't do, all the other cool things that are coming down the road that I won't be able to do because now,

so I resist, resist, resist. And, you know, and then I get, and talk about fear. You don't want to meet with the creatives because I'll get sucked into their dream. And I don't want to, so I resist that, you know. And so Tim Stack, he's a friend, and he gave me the book, The Old Man, by Thomas Perry, maybe, you know, six years, seven years ago. And I read the script, and like you, I liked it, the script. And I told Sue, I said, this is pretty good, you know. And

she says, yeah, Tim gave you that book years ago. I said, you're kidding me. I said, no. So I read the script, dug it, again, and mentioned I was afraid of meeting the creators to get sucked into their dream. But that was the next move or let it go. So I met with one of your guys, Littlefield. Yeah, Warren. Warren, gosh, and John Steinberg, you know, and they got me. Yeah.

Just with their dreams and how they were going to do it. And they had just come off of Fargo. Yeah, yeah. Which was a really well done show. And I remember part of my resistance was due to my dad, who did several TV series, and I saw how hard he had to work

to do it, and the slight dissatisfaction of that versus movies, you know. And so I thought about that, but then I started to see, you know, some of this great work coming off the screen, you know, you know. And so I thought about that, but then I started to see, you know, some of this great work coming off the screen. You know, you go,

wow, man. Succession. That shows succession. Wasn't that good, man? And fresh? Or what about Pen15? Have you seen that? Yes.

What an acting lesson. Yeah. Those girls playing 13 and 34? Yeah. And pulling it off seamlessly and having all, oh, gosh, wasn't that delightful? Yeah. And then one of them went off to do the TV version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Oh, no, she's great.

I got a chance to get on the video with her and, you know, tell her how excited I was. She's a great actress. And they directed it, wrote it. Can you imagine? They started trying to pitch it at 24. But can you imagine trying to get money for that? For that dream? But they were talking about married to a dream, man.

God. They just pulled it off. God. That was brilliant. They just pulled it off. Wow. So do you still, let me ask some questions, because one of the things I loved about the first season and the script was the dogs. Oh, yeah. Dogs?

Dogs. Yeah. Dogs. Dogs, yeah. Which was brilliant. Was that hard to pull off filming? Did they, were they great? No, no, they were, you know, there was a lot more of them than you see.

They're all made up to look like one. Ferocious. No, made up literally with makeup to make them all appear to be the same animal. So there's one dog character. No, there's two dogs. There are two dogs. Yeah, two Rottweilers. Which gives the old man an edge when it comes to the bad guy.

Do they make it to the second season? I can't remember. I don't know if I should tell. Never mind. Don't, don't. Maybe they'll say anything. It is a brilliant show. It really is.

It's always the casting, not just the actors, but the team that you bring together, and then you, boom, let that rip and see what it is. And the team that we've assembled is just remarkable. John Steinberg, the scripts that he writes. I didn't know how I would dig all the different directors, but every director's been great. Every cinematographer has been great.

The look of the thing is so... Do you have different cinematographers? Oh, yeah. Do they tune, they switch off? They switch all the time, you know. And not knowing, you know, it's very much like life, not knowing what's going to happen. Like, you know, if there is a third season, I don't know.

Wait, so you've shot the second and it's about to come out. Yeah. Yeah. September 12th. Yeah. I've circled John Leskow several times, but the first time I understudied him in a Broadway show called The Comedians. And gosh, I'm trying to, he and Jonathan Price. Oh, yeah.

Were just, it was about stand-ups in England. And just brilliant. It was just brilliant. But then I got to kind of circle him here and there. He's a lovely man. Yeah, great, great guy. One of the things that I find so fascinating about acting is how available

love is. You know, and friendship, this thing, this old and old thing, you know, and when you get two people intending to create that, it's pretty quick, man.

And, you know, whether it's pretty quick, man. Yeah. And, you know, I, and I am, and whether it's a bad guy or a good guy, you know, in the movie, I always try to get

quite intimate with him or get down to it. Say like, and now, and now let's let it have its way with us, you know, but,

you know, and I always feel, because then that all creates relaxation too. Yeah. You know, trying to be something that you're not with somebody, you know, and I always feel, because then that all creates relaxation too. Yeah. You know, trying to be something that you're not with somebody, you know.

So John and I both kicked into that and just had a great time. I love, I love actors. Isn't it incredible? Writers, directors, I love creativity.

Well, this, this thing that we're talking about, about, and I sense it with you, and it becomes so natural that it's not an intended thing. It just happens because that's how you do it. Yeah.

I've noticed that with you. You know, immediate. Yeah. That whole troupe that we were on with Muggles was like that. But there's some actors, please only call me by my character's name. Yeah. And don't want to hang out.

That works too. I know. That goes to so many different ways to do it. I worked with somebody once, a leading lady who, she would come and do what she'd worked on the night before. And you had just better fit in because there was no, and I thought this thought, this sucks. She's going to suck.

Then I looked at Rush's and she was fucking brilliant. Right. You know. You see. You don't know. People approach things from different ways. The Rush's thing, I wonder if you've experienced this, where you do a day of shooting and you said, man, I kicked ass in this.

I was fucking there. I was so emotionally full. And then you see the dailies and you say, man, I kicked ass in this. I was fucking there. I was so emotionally full. And then you see the dailies and you say, what? Who is that asshole? Oh, you're cathartic. Well, okay. But that has nothing to do with the story we're telling. And other times when the director will say, all right, moving on.

You say, no, I didn't. He says, no, that's it. And if you're not editing or producing or directing or something, you almost have to take the attitude, none of my business. Now it's none of my business. I did my thing, and now it's their thing. It's like we make a painting, and then they cut it up and make a collage out of it. Yeah.

And sometimes it comes out much better than your painting. What a great hang, man. Wasn't that fun? Oh, man. Yeah. I'm so happy. Thanks for having me, man. Ladies and gentlemen, Jeff Bridges.

I had the best time catching up with him. I hope you did too. Season two of The Old Man is airing now on FX. Really encourage you to check it out. That's it for this week's episode. Special thanks to my buddy Woody and to our friends at Team Coco. If you like these episodes, tell a friend and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. If you have some time, great rating, a review on Apple Podcasts wouldn't hurt. Thank you so much.

Really appreciate it. We'll see you next time. Where Everybody Knows Your Name. You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Liao. Executive producers are Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, Jeff Ross, and myself. Sarah Federovich is our supervising producer. Our senior producer is Matt Apodaca. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez.

Research by Alyssa Graw. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Batista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Gann, Mary Steenburgen, and John Osborne. Special thanks to Willie Nadler. We'll have more for you next time, where everybody knows your name.