Jeff Bridges on the roles that “take acting to another level”
It’s been over 70 years since Jeff Bridges made his screen debut as the aptly-named ‘Infant’ in The Company She Keeps, which was released a month after he turned one year old, and he’s still putting out top-quality performances to this day.
That longevity has seen him evolve from a child star into a leading man before segueing into the role of esteemed character actor and grizzled veteran, a remarkably lengthy stint in the spotlight that’s been defined by a willingness to stretch himself and test his capabilities in virtually everything cinema has to offer.
Remarkably, though, it took the Academy Award winner seven decades to play a main role on television, which he unsurprisingly knocked out of the park when The Old Man premiered in 2022 and won him plenty of acclaim while also reinforcing his action hero credentials well into his 70s.
Just because an actor doesn’t appear in a lot of TV, it doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t up to date with the latest small screen goings-on, as evidenced by Bridges celebrating a cult favourite comedy that only gave rise to 25 episodes across two seasons before calling it quits, which was still more than enough time to see it go down as one of the most fresh, inventive, and imaginative shows to come along in years.
Co-created by Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, PEN15 was marketed as “middle school as it really happened”, which required the pair – who also played semi-fictionalised extensions of themselves in the lead – to relive their youth as early 30-somethings playing 13-year-olds while being surrounded by an ensemble largely comprised of genuine teenagers.
Netting a quartet of Primetime Emmy nominations across its brief run, PEN15 proved so popular that Bridges was adamant it changed the very foundations of acting, as he revealed to Empire. “That takes acting to another level, those women did such a wonderful job,” he said. “It’s hard to even say it, it sounds so unbelievable, but they’re 34 years old and they’re playing 13, seventh-graders. And they just do it so beautifully. I love it.”
The central conceit of PEN15 could have easily been a gimmick or one-note joke that wore out its welcome very quickly, but it’s a testament to both the writing and performances that it emerged as a whip-smart, razor-sharp, intelligent, complex, and surprisingly heartfelt rumination on adolescence, something that wasn’t readily expected of a series that revolves around adults playing characters who are quite clearly decades younger than they are.
It’s gathered plenty of fans along the way, but it’s a real feather in the cap to have one of the most respected heavyweights that Hollywood has to offer, say it takes the entire profession to a whole new level.
