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
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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