The only Jeff Bridges movie he will watch when it is on TV: “I get hooked”
A truly rewatchable movie is an incredibly special thing. Every year, moviegoers worldwide watch countless new films, loving some, hating some, and feeling nothing about others. How many of those films will become movies we watch over and over again in our lives, though? If we’re lucky, every year we may find a film we’d watch a couple of times, but those truly enduring films are a rare breed indeed.
The phenomenon of the genuinely rewatchable movie is unique for actors, especially when it comes to their own films. You see, many stars refuse to watch themselves on-screen because all they see are the flaws in their performances, which leads to bizarre circumstances where the star of a beloved movie may have never actually watched it. Jeff Bridges has admitted to being one of these stars, as he claims it’s extremely rare that he’ll go back and look at his own movies.
Having said that, there is one big exception to this rule. In his career, Bridges made one film he has watched multiple times, and when he’s channel-surfing at the end of a long day, if he catches it playing, he can’t bring himself to turn it off. Fittingly for his fans, this movie isn’t one of his more obscure, lesser-seen efforts – it’s the one they all love, too. In fact, it’s probably his signature role, and a film that is a dead cert to be listed in the first line of his obituary: The Big Lebowski.
“It’s just such a terrific movie,” Bridges smiled to GQ about his iconic stint as everyone’s favourite stoner, The Dude. “You know, I’m not a guy who looks at many of my movies on TV or whatever, but when that movie comes on, I get hooked. You know, I’ll say, ‘Oh, I’ll just watch it until Turturro licks the ball, and then I’ll click on the clicker guy to go to something else.'”
Despite the best intentions to change the channel, Bridges chuckled that he then finds himself remembering how good each subsequent scene in the movie is. “Then I’ll say, ‘Oh no, I’ll just wait for that scene there.'” Before he knows it, he’s sitting in front of the tube, watching The Big Lebowski till the closing credits. “I end up watching the whole thing,” he grinned. “It’s just made so well, that film.”
Indeed, The Big Lebowski is the Platonic ideal of rewatchable movies, in that it gets better every time you watch it. It’s also a film whose thematic riches arguably become more apparent the more you immerse yourself in it, which may explain why it is so beloved nearly 30 years after its release, yet it flopped in the US when it opened in 1998. It only made $18million domestically, which shocked Bridges, who was adamant about the film’s brilliance from day one. “I thought it was going to be a big hit,” the Iron Man star admitted. “I was surprised when it didn’t get much recognition. People didn’t get it, or something.”
As time went on, though, more and more people became charmed by the Coen brothers’ funny, weird, existential take on a Los Angeles noir story. These days, the film’s legions of fans attend Big Lebowski conventions, celebrating all of its bizarre, hilarious idiosyncrasies, and Bridges will forever be known as ‘The Dude’ wherever he goes.
Luckily, he loves the character and the film so much that he gets a kick whenever he hears it mentioned – or sees it on TV. “I’m so fond of that movie,” he insisted, “and so happy that I’m a part of it.”
