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Page 8 The Skanner August 24, 2016 Arts & Entertainment Jef Bridges Talks ‘Hell or High Water’ With Kam Williams By Kam Williams For The Skanner News O ne of Hollywood’s most successful actors and a six- time Academy Award-nominee, Jef Bridges’ performance in “Crazy Heart” as Bad Blake, the down-on-his- luck, alcoholic country music singer at the cen- ter of the drama, deserv- edly garnered the iconic performer an Oscar in the Best Lead Actor cat- egory. The performance also earned him a Gold- en Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Independent Spirit Award. Jef earned his irst Os- car nomination in 1971 for Peter Bogdanovich’s “The Last Picture Show, “co-starring Cybill Shep- herd. Three years later, he received his second nomination for his role in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.” In 1984, he landed more kudos via a Best Actor nomination for “Starman.” In 2001, he was honored with his fourth Oscar nomination for his work in The Con- tender, a political thriller co-starring Gary Oldman and Joan Allen in which he played the President of the United States. In December 2010, his reunion with the Coen Brothers in the critical- ly-acclaimed Western “True Grit” landed him his sixth Oscar nomina- tion. The same month he was seen in the high- ly-anticipated 3D ac- tion-adventure “TRON: Legacy.” Jef reprised his role of video-game developer Kevin Flynn from the classic 1982 ilm “TRON.” with the help of state-of-the-art technolo- gy. The picture featured him as the irst actor in cinematic history to play opposite a younger ver- sion of himself. Prior to “Crazy Heart,” Jef was seen in the war comedy “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” playing Bill Django, a free-spirit- ed military intelligence oicer, who is the lead- er of a secret group of warriors in the army. Additionally, he has starred in numerous box-oice hits, including “Seabiscuit,” “The Fish- er King,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” “The Jagged Edge,” “Tucker: The Man Jef Bridges, known for a variety of roles from his debut in ‘The Last Picture Show’ to his signature role as the Dude in ‘The Big Lebowski,’ spoke to Kam Williams about his newest ilm, the neo-noir drama ‘Hell or High Water.’ and His Dream,” “Blown Away,” “Fearless” and “American Heart.” In 1983, Jef founded the We honor the many accomplishments of African Americans. It is our primary goal as a labor union to better the lives of all people working in the building trades through advocacy, civil demonstration, and the long-held belief that workers deserve a “family wage” - fair pay for an honest day’s work. A family wage, and the beneits that go with it, not only strengthens families, but also allows our communities to become stronger, more cohesive, and more responsive to their citizens’ needs. Our family wage agenda relects our commitment to people working in the building trades, and to workers everywhere. In this small way, we are doing our part to help people achieve the American Dream. This dream that workers can hold dear regardless of race, color, national origin, gender, creed, or religious beliefs. Paciic Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters Representing more than 5,000 construction workers in Oregon State. Do you want to know more about becoming a Union carpenter? Go to www.NWCarpenters.org PORTLAND OFFICE 1636 East Burnside, Portland, OR 97214 503.261.1862 | 800.974.9052 HEADQUARTERS 25120 Paciic Hwy S, Suite 200, Kent, WA 98032 253.954.8800 | 800.573.8333 End Hunger Network, a nonproit organization dedicated to feeding chil- dren around the world. He also produced the End Hunger tel-event, a three-hour live televi- sion broadcast focusing on world hunger. The show featured Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, Burt Lancaster, Bob Newhart, Kenny Loggins and other “ In 2013, he was the recip- ient of an Ininity Award, presented by the Inter- national Center of Pho- tography in Manhattan. The books, which have become valued by collec- tors, were never intend- ed for public sale, but in the fall of 2003, power- House Books released Pictures: Photographs by Jef Bridges, a hardcover book containing a compi- lation of his photographs taken on numerous ilm locations over the years, to much critical acclaim. Proceeds from the book are donated to the Mo- tion Picture & Television Fund, a nonproit organi- zation that ofers chari- table care and support to ilm-industry workers. In August of 2011, Jef released his self-titled major label debut al- bum for Blue Note Re- cords. Multiple-Grammy Award-wining songwrit- er, musician and pro- ducer T Bone Burnett produced the album. It is an organic extension and culmination of his per- sonal, professional and music friendship with Burnett, whom he has known for more than 30 years. The critically-ac- claimed album was a fol- low up to his irst solo efort, “Be Here Soon,” on Ramp Records, the Santa Barbara, Calif., label he co-founded with Michael McDonald and producer/ KW: I loved “Hell or High Water.” I don’t know why they released it in August instead of just ahead of awards sea- son. Everything about it screams Oscars. JB: It’s an awfully good movie. KW: Yeah, from the A-list cast to the visual- ly-captivating cinema- tography to its haunting musical score to its in- triguing script -- featur- ing an unpredictable cat-and-mouse thriller as well as some decent character development. It all added up to an en- chanting cinematic expe- rience. JB: It was a great expe- rience for me watching it, too, and also making it, of course. It’s a good one! KW: Absolutely! What was it like working with such a talented ensem- ble. I was already famil- iar with Ben Foster and Chris Pine, but Gil Bir- mingham who was new to me did a great job, too. JB: Yeah, the whole team they assembled, not only the actors, but the crew--the writer, the director, the set design- er--all came together. That’s a pretty rare phe- nomenon! It certainly doesn’t happen all the time. And such a great screenplay by Taylor Sheridan. That’s where it all began. ‘The Big Lebowski’ is a real masterpiece, as far as I’m concerned. I suppose I’m a bit biased be- cause I’m in it. But even if I weren’t, I’d still love that movie, it’s so well done leading ilm, television and music stars in an in- novative production to educate and inspire ac- tion. He is currently the na- tional spokesman for the Share Our Strength/ No Kid Hungry cam- paign that is ighting to end childhood hunger in America. Another of Jef ’s true passions is photography. While on the set of his movies, he takes behind-the-scenes pictures of the actors, crew and locations. Ater completion of each mo- tion picture, he edits the images into a book and gives copies to everyone involved. Jef ’s photographs have been featured in sever- al magazines, including Premiere and Aperture, as well as in other pub- lications worldwide. He has also had gallery ex- hibitions of his work in New York, Los Angeles, London and San Diego. singer/songwriter Chris Pelonis. The CD features guest appearances by vocalist/keyboardist Mi- chael McDonald, Gram- my-nominated Amy Holland and rock legend David Crosby. In 2014, he released his irst live al- bum ‘Jef Bridges & The Abiders Live’ and has been touring of and on when he is not working. Jef and his wife Su- san divide their time between homes in Santa Barbara and Montana. Here, he talks about his latest outing as wily Tex- as Ranger Marcus Ham- ilton in “Hell or High Water,” a cat-and-mouse crime thriller co-star- ring Chris Pine and Ben Foster. Kam Williams: Hey Jef. I’m honored to have this opportunity to speak with you. Jef Bridges: Why, thank you, Kam. it’s good talking to you, too. KW: And how about trusting a British direc- tor, David Mackenzie, to make a modern Western set in Texas? JB: Yeah, he had those fresh eyes. He was so concerned about getting it right, and I think he did a brilliant job. KW: I agree. How did you come up with your character Marcus Hamil- ton’s persona? JB: Well, it was deinite- ly on the page. That was one of the things that at- tracted me to the project in the irst place. It just rang so true. It seemed like Taylor Sheridan re- ally knew what he was talking about. I found out that his cousin, Par- nell McNamara was a Marshall down in Texas. He was made available to me, and I talked to him quite a bit. We were also very fortunate to have See BRIDGES on page 11
