Jeff Bridges names his favourite characters of his career
When we think of the many great performances of Jeff Bridges, it’s hard for our minds to not immediately wander to his eternally iconic performance as The Dude in the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski, but while that effort is indeed one of Bridge’s most memorable, there are several others that comprise his overall brilliance.
After all, Bridges’ career has been chock-full of legendary acting moments. After making his film debut in the 1970 film Halls of Anger, Bridges made good on his early promise as the son of actor Lloyd Bridges with a lead role in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show, setting himself on the way to stardom.
In the proceeding years, Bridges established himself as a mainstay in Hollywood and continued to deliver some of the most iconic performances in the history of contemporary cinema, including those in the likes of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman, The Contender, Crazy Heart and True Grit, showing the world the sheer talent that lies within the Bridges acting family.
Of course, the question remains about Bridges’ favourite characters from a career of striking excellence. Thankfully, the Los Angeles-born star once revealed the answers in an interview with Film Scouts, and though one of the roles may come as no surprise, the other could be said to be a sure-fire banker.
“That’s hard,” Bridges admitted. “I like Starman. They come and go and I think different things about them at different times. Obviously, I really like The Dude. I love all the films, although it sort of depends on how well the movie works. Each of them is like a little lifetime that I’ve lived, so my feelings also depend on how much fun the character had being himself. Does that make sense?”
So, though Bridges is right that each of his characters represents a particular time in his life, he felt confident enough to name two that stood out from the rest, beginning with his role in the 1984 John Carpenter science fiction romance drama Starman.
The film tells of a non-corporeal alien who comes to Earth after finding an invitation on a gold phonograph record on a space probe. When the alien arrives, it clones the body of a recently deceased husband, and though his widowed wife is initially scare, the two begin to communicate with one another and form a relationship.
Bridges was nominated for the Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ for his effort in Starman, meaning that it’s the only Carpenter movie to receive an Oscar nod. The other of Bridges’ favourite roles is certainly his most iconic as The Dude from The Big Lebowski has become practically synonymous with the actor himself.
The Dude is an LA-dwelling, bowling-loving stoner who finds himself drawn into a conspiracy surrounding a millionaire who shares his legal name. The Big Lebowski is, with ease, one of the greatest comedy movies of all time, and Bridges’ performance is a major part of its overall brilliance.
Of course, we ought not to reduce Bridges’ career to a handful of performances, but even the actor himself is willing to admit that there are two that he holds closest to his heart, a pair of roles that show his impressive acting ability and wide range.
