The musicians Jeff Bridges called “role models”
It’s easy to see Jeff Bridges by his primary acting profession. After all, the son of fellow actor Lloyd Bridges has given some of the most memorable performances of the last six decades or so, earning himself a thoroughly deserved reputation as one of the greatest stars of his generation.
With the likes of The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Contender, True Grit, Hell or High Water and The Big Lebowski to his name, Bridges will go down in history as a master of the acting craft. However, did you know Bridges is also an acclaimed musician and had already sold two songs to Quincy Jones before he’d ever made his first movie appearance?
As his acting career took root, Bridges always got involved in music. He showed that if he hadn’t been performing in front of the camera for a living, he might have been up on stage with a guitar in his hands and a microphone in his face. This kind of musical experience also paid dividends when Bridges performed in the 2009 drama film Crazy Heart.
The film stars the actor as an alcoholic country singer-songwriter who tries to turn his life around after he meets and begins a relationship with a young journalist. Based on Thomas Cobb’s novel of the same name, Crazy Heart also starred Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall and saw Bridges win the Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ for his effort.
When speaking with Pop Entertainment about the film, Bridges revealed the kinds of musicians who served not only as inspirations for his role but also as the people he personally looked up to. “I was really fortunate in this one to have two very close friends who were my main role models: T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton,” Bridges explained.
He continued, “Those guys, we go back to Heaven’s Gate 30 years ago with another role model – I’m not as close with [Kris] Kristofferson, but he’s certainly a good buddy, and he brought all his musician friends to that party.” Bridges was referring to the 1980 western film Heaven’s Gate, which he starred in alongside Kristoffer and spent time playing guitar with the country music legend.
According to Bridges, after work every night for six months, he would jam out with Kristofferson, Burnett and Bruton. “That’s kind of the birth of this movie,” he said. “It came out of that in a funny sort of way. And Kris is certainly a role model.” Burnett had been the guitarist in Bob Dylan’s band in the 1970s and contributed to a number of notable film tracks, including O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Walk the Line.
Bruton was also an acclaimed guitarist who joined Kristofferson’s band just as his career was about to take off. Kristofferson had been in a country music supergroup with fellow country icons Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, the likes of whom need no introduction and whom Bridges also admitted were “role models” to him and his Crazy Heart character, Otis ‘Bad’ Blake.
Finally, Bridges signed off by noting three other huge musicians who served under the “role model” banner for him and his character. “Bad could be listening to T-Bone Walker or Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen – different guys that aren’t thought of as classical country guys,” the actor pointed out. “They were role models as well.”
It’s safe to say that Bridges understood what it took to be an artist, whether in the worlds of music, film or beyond.
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