◄ Jeff Bridges ►

Quotes

A fella who accepts himself and is relaxed into who he is - that appeals to people.

A large part of acting is just pretending. You get to work with these other great make-believers, all making believe as hard as they can.

About 25 years ago, my wife and I bought Kenny Loggins' house in Santa Barbara. It was way out of our price range, but we said, 'Screw it, let's go for it.' We've raised our family there. We overextended ourselves at the perfect time in our lives, and it worked out for the best.

Any role that big is going to be a challenge for any actor, but for an actor of a young age, it's going to be even tougher.

As an actor, a role can be a great excuse not to be in shape. I mean, you wouldn't want to see the Dude with a six-pack, so you eat that Haagen-Dazs. My weight goes up and down.

As far as 3-D goes, I don't know if that will stay very long because things are moving so rapidly.

As far as Beau is concerned, we're on the same team, we root for each other. If my parts are slightly more attractive, or are perceived that way by others, he's very content.

As far as the lack of hits goes, I think perhaps it's because I've played a lot of different roles and have not created a persona that the public can latch on to. I have played everything from psychopathic killers to romantic leading men, and in picking such diverse roles I have avoided typecasting.

As filmmakers, we're constantly always looking for something to bring the audience deeper into the reality of the story we're telling.

Ballet might be too formal of a title for the type of dance I do, but I love to dance. I love to draw and paint; I do ceramics and photography. I'm interested in a lot of creative stuff.

Basically, one of the hardest things about being an actor is getting your first break. I'm a product of nepotism. The doors were open to me. I'd done several movies before I decided what I wanted to do.

Directing takes a lot of time.

Do I have a long-term plan? Kind of. I have a general direction, I think. But it's funny what comes down the pike.

Do we really need to arm our citizens with machine guns or semiautomatic weapons? And don't we need to make sure that people who do own guns are qualified to own them?

Eating ice cream and not exercising is great. The downside is your health isn't so good.

Every time I walk down one of those red carpets, you think I'd be used to it after all these years, but it's like it's happening for the first time.

Execution is everything.

Fame really works against actors, in a way, because our anonymity is a wonderful thing for us.

For me and my wife, it was love at first sight.

For me, growing up, the downside of it was that as a kid you don't want to stand out. You don't want to have a famous father let alone get a job because of your famous father, you know? But I'm a product of nepotism. That's how I got my foot in the door, through my dad.

Generally speaking I would say I enjoy the smaller films more because there's a less sense of pressure and often the material is more unusual.

I am a product of nepotism. I don't think I would have had the profession that I'm in currently... if it wasn't for my dad.

I can see how a relationship with a writer would be an easy thing.

I come from a family of teasers myself. My grandfather was from Liverpool, and he had a dry sense of humor, and he would tease us terribly. My brother Beau was so skilled in his teasing that he could get a rise out of me by simply pointing at me.

I consider myself a lazy guy, but I do a bunch of stuff, and I'm so busy that in my downtime, I like to be with my wife, who I'm just madly in love with.

I consider myself pretty lazy, but I look back and check out the stuff I've done, and I say, 'God, that's a lot of stuff for a lazy guy.' It's a paradox, I suppose, being both things.

I do a lot of ceramics.

I do my best to hold the director's opinion above my own.

I don't dig Trump or follow what he has to say, but I find it fascinating that he's surfaced in the political arena. But I'm a Hillary supporter, and I don't go the Trump way.

I don't even know what Instagram is, All of this high-tech stuff is supposed to set us free and make life easier. To me, it makes it more difficult and demanding.

I don't have one movie that is my favorite, I have about 25-30 favorites.

I don't have too many plans filled out. I know I want to keep doing more music. I've got a couple of albums worth of songs I'd like to put it out there. As far as movies, I just want to continue how I've been doing it: working with terrific people is certainly on my agenda, and then doing stories that interest me.

I don't know how it is for women or for other guys, but when I was young and in my 20s, I had a fear of marriage.

I don't really care about having more fame than I have.

I don't really consider myself one of those actors who takes his work home with him.

I don't really think in career terms.

I don't think I ever went down that movie star path. I always enjoy taking a 90-degree turn from the last thing I did.

I first got involved with ending world hunger, and I got hip to the facts about it - what a huge problem it was and how it wasn't a matter of not having food or not knowing how to end it, but it was a matter of creating the political will.

I found that photography was a great way of relaxing on the set.

I gotta take notes when things occur to me.

I had a great '70s. I survived it, and that's always good news.

I had years of partying, and I was kind of surprised and happy I survived it all. Now, being a parent, I look back on it thinking, Oh God, the things you did!

I hate it when there's a good movie, someone overhypes it and I'm disappointed that I don't like it more.

I have a cycle that is not particularly cool, but it's a cycle: trash myself to reward myself.

I have hesitation making any kind of decision, really in my life. I'm really slow at it.

I haven't been to Comic-Con.

I just find my creativity manifesting a bunch of different ways.

I just hope that theaters remain. I think there's something very wonderful about getting into a dark room with a bunch of people. There's something cool about that. Brings us all together in one room where we can experience all those emotions.

I kind of quit surfing when I got out of high school, but then a few years ago I started to take it up again. I'm not an expert by any means, but it's so wonderful to get out in the ocean and get a different perspective on things.

I like people.

I like to know where the camera is.

I like to think of myself as a character actor, though there's some redundancy in that.

I look at the camera as sort of a missing link between motion picture photography and still photography.

I look back at my filmography, and I'm pretty jazzed with the stuff I've been part of. They're all movies I'd like to see.

I love John Irving's stuff. It's that marriage of comedy and tragedy. It's really terrific.

I love marriage.

I love to paint, do ceramics, photography. I got a lot of side things that I like to do.

I love westerns, I'd love to make more of them.

I never read reviews of something I want to see.

I really try hard not to work, not to engage, because I know what that means. What hard work it is; it takes me away from my family.

I really try my best not to get attached to a script, because I know what it takes: It takes you away from your family and what you like to do.

I remember being on a black-and-white set all day and then going out into daylight and being amazed by the colour.

I remember when I was a kid, with the acting thing, I resented it because, you know, you don't want to do what your parents want you to do.

I resist life.

I said I'm going to vote for Hillary. But my philosophy is that everything's workable. If Trump is president, I'll work with that guy. I don't know if he's terrible or what. He's refreshing in that he doesn't speak in that political way. I don't quite understand why everybody hates Hillary so much.

I think it's an impulse for human beings to want to suffer less, and we're kind of addicted to comfort at all costs - at least, I am.

I think my love of journalizing my life comes from my mom.

I think there's a real joy in going to see movies when you discover them yourself.

I think we're all hooked, I feel my own hook-ness on immediate gratification you know. I want what I want.

I used to read comics when I was a kid.

I want to have all of my faculties.

I wish I were more disciplined.

I'd done about 10 movies before I decided I wanted to make acting the main thrust of my career.

I'd maybe done about 12 movies when I decided that this was what I was going to do.

If you change partners every time it gets tough or you get a little dissatisfied, then I don't think you get the richness that's available in a long-term relationship.

If you open your heart, then the object of your love becomes so precious because you are so open. And that philosophy, that caring, spreads.

If you're like me, I get hooked into to-do lists, you know. I'll say I checked that off. Okay, I did that. And you have all these things you're doing.

If you're married you'll have tough times.

I'm a big fan of country.

I'm a chairperson for 'No Kid Hungry', a campaign for poor American children.

I'm a longboard guy.

I'm a pretty basic surfer.

I'm also working closely with a group called the Amazon Conservation Team, helping with the rainforest in South America.

I'm always busy, but I'm lazy as well.

I'm at this time in life when I have to take the opportunities I have left.

I'm constantly falling deeper in love with my wife.

I'm drawn to the path of least resistance.

I'm kind of an idea guy.

I'm light and airy.

I'm not counting any chickens.

I'm not locked into playing one guy.

I'm not real good at romance.

I'm one of those guys that spins through the clicker when I'm watching TV. When one of my movies comes on, I'll watch a scene or two.

I'm pretty critical of myself as far as reaching some sort of perfect bull's-eye or target that I'm aiming for.

I'm used to watching old movies of myself.

I'm very manipulative towards directors. My theory is that everyone on the set is directing the film, we're all receiving art messages from the universe on how we should do the film.

I'm very much into the costuming of any character that I portray and it's one of the great things about making movies is it's a collaborative art form so you get all these artists who are looking specifically about for this instance your character's costume and what that might tell about your character.

Imperfection and perfection go so hand in hand, and our dark and our light are so intertwined, that by trying to push the darkness or the so-called negative aspects of our life to the side... we are preventing ourselves from the fullness of life.

In a marriage, every fight is the same fight, over and over again, in different forms.

In life and in movies, it's a similar challenge, where you have expectations, and you end up in situations that are not meeting your expectations.

In my career, I really set out not to develop too strong a persona so that you wouldn't have a hard time imagining me in any given role. I wanted to pleasantly confuse the audience on who I was.

Intimacy seems to be one of the major highs of life, whether it's getting to know yourself in a deeper way, or your partner, or the world and the society that you live in.

It can kind of screw up things if you're trying to overwork something.

It gives me more breadth as an actor and as an artist to not be pigeonholed.

It's a wonderful metaphor, catching a wave, for how you can look at other challenges in your life.

It's easy to point out the evil in other people, but that can be found in all of us. That selfishness, that is something we all have in us. Sometimes you are successful at dealing with it, and sometimes you are not.

It's funny. You succeed, but now where are you gonna go from there? I've got to keep proving that I can laugh or cry more real each time.

It's interesting to explore the darker side, but the hero piece is interesting as well. It's like choosing between comedy or drama. I like to do both.

It's the same assignment on every part: you want to create a real world, and the tone of it is a little different on each movie. You have to find your tone and work within that to make it as real so the audience can really engage in the story you're telling.

It's wrong to rob banks, yeah, but is it right for banks to loan people money, knowing full well they can't pay it back?

I've been interested in music since I was a teenager, always writing songs.

I've been playing since I was a teenager, and I put out a few albums when I was younger. When 'Crazy Heart' took off, it gave me another reason to get into music in a more serious fashion.

I've done several commercials and I've done voiceovers for documentaries.

I've gone out of my way to not take baggage with me from film to film.

I've got a closet full of tuxes, and I appreciate that, because one thing I don't like to do is shop.

I've got to watch my back, so I can't put on too much weight.

I've had really great experiences working with first-time directors. They come at filmmaking with fresh ideas. I've been very lucky that way.

I've produced a couple of films and really enjoyed starting it from the very beginning and seeing it all the way through to the end; that was very gratifying.

I've worked with a lot of first-time directors who kind of look to me for ideas and opinions and stuff, and I'm a team player.

I've worked with a lot of kids, and when you're working with kids they have certain hours that they have to work.

Just a couple of minutes ago, I signed a couple of bowling pins for some people. That's a normal thing. Somebody will hand me something and say, 'Draw a picture! Draw the Dude!' They're probably selling them on eBay or something.

Just getting something in the books that makes sure people with mental illness and terrorists can't get guns would be a good idea.

Life is having its way with me now. And I'm really pleased.

Life's picking up speed.

Like most kids, you don't want to do what your folks want you to do. You've got your own thing.

Live like you're already dead, man. Have a good time. Do your best. Let it all come ripping right through you.

Loving movies myself, I know when I see a film with someone with a strong persona, it's hard to overlay another character on top of that.

Making a film, it uses a certain... 'pretend-muscle,' I don't know what you want to call it. It exhausts something in me, I find. It has to be really something to get me interested.

Making films is sort of like you're pulling off a magic trick. It's sort of like an illusion. It's not real but you want it to appear real, and all kinds of things go into that, from the clothes you're wearing to the make-up, to the light.

Making movies is about creating illusions, and they can be subtle illusions, but it's all a cumulative effect as you make these little tweaks. It kinda adds up to something, hopefully.

Mania is a wonderful feeling.

Most cynics are really crushed romantics: they've been hurt, they're sensitive, and their cynicism is a shell that's protecting this tiny, dear part in them that's still alive.

Movies are like magic tricks.

Movies are very subjective.

My approach to working in movies is to empower the director to have power over me and to really support his vision because he's the guy, at the end of the day, who's going to put it all together.

My brother's my teacher, my mentor, and we both learnt all the acting basics from our father.

My father Lloyd Bridges was very versatile in his parts, but he had a hit in the '60s 'Sea Hunt,' where he played a skin diver. And he was so into that role that people actually thought he was a skin-diver.

My father Lloyd Bridges worked on a TV show called 'Sea Hunt.' He impressed upon me as a child the importance of taking care of the ocean and working together to do our part to reduce human pollution.

My father was so in love with showbiz, all the different aspects - what we're doing here, making the movies, everything about it.

My main teachers were my father and my mother and my brother.

My m.o. as far as choosing projects is I really try not to work. I try to not do the scripts that are offered me.

My M.O. as far as choosing projects is I really try not to work. I try to not do the scripts that are offered me. I'm in this wonderful position to be able to do that.

My m.o. as far as choosing projects is I really try not to work. I try to not do the scripts that are offered me. I'm in this wonderful position to be able to do that. The reason I do that is because I know what it takes once I engage, what that means for me personally and for my wife.

My mom wasn't a movie star.

My mother and my father were very nurturing and wonderful examples of how to live your life.

My mother and my father were very nurturing and wonderful examples of how to live your life. I really had a cool foundation.

My photography is mainly focused on my work making movies, which I've done my whole life. I think I have a perspective that not many people have. And I get to take advantage of all of the strange sources of light on a set.

My website's kind of fun for me. I get to do drawings on that. It's kind of fun.

My wife holds the kite strings that let me go 'weeeeeee', then she reels me back in.

My wife, whenever I'd go off to work and I'd be kind of anxious, she'll say, 'Remember, have fun.' Oh, I forgot, thanks for the reminder. Because sometimes we do forget. We take it all too seriously and there's a lot of joy to be had wherever you are.

Myths are wonderful tools that we've had, oh, for eons now that help us navigate the situations we find ourselves in.

Normally, I love to go to the movies and when I see a character portrayed by different actors at different ages, it kind of pops a little bit for me. It brings me out of the movie experience. Now we have the technology to cure that.

Normally, we push away the things we're scared of.

Nowadays, in the contract that actors sign, you have to agree that you're going to do a certain amount of publicity-the hard part they don't pay you for.

Nowadays it seems more and more like the 'business' in 'show business' is underlined, and there are campaigns, and it's all part of getting people in to see the movies.

Often, when I finish a film, I'll have that feeling inside me: 'I never want to do this ever again. I don't want to pretend anymore. I want to be myself and do that.'

Often when I finish a film I'll have that feeling inside me: 'I never want to do this ever again. I don't want to pretend anymore. I want to be myself and do that.' And then, thank God, that feeling goes away after a month or so and I'm raring to go again.

One in four kids in the U.S. faces hunger.

One of my favorite artists is Tom Waits, whom most people think of as a wonderful singer-songwriter and a great poet. I certainly think of him that way, but I also know him as a terrific actor. You know, that persona that he puts on when he's doing his music comes from being an actor, figuring out a persona.

One of the things I want to do that's outside the realm of acting and the arts - although both have their place in this - is ending childhood hunger here in America.

One of the things that I find so exciting about life is that you're constantly surprised. You never know what's going to happen, and it's certainly like that making movies; every once in a while, one will come along that transcends all of your expectations.

One of the tough things about being an actor, probably the hardest thing, is getting your foot in the door, and my father handled that for me at a very early age.

One thing I want to do is create something called Ring Around Congress. It would be a state deal and also a national thing, where the kids, as a field trip, will go and join hands around Congress and give the politicians report cards on how they're voting on hunger issues.

People fall in love for mysterious reasons.

Poverty is a very complicated issue, but feeding a child isn't.

Pretend was a big part of my childhood.

So I have this word for much of what I do in life: 'plorking.' I'm not playing and I'm not working, I'm plorking.

So many things have to come together to get a creatively successful and financially successful film. Sometimes you'll have a movie that you're very proud of, and you think it transcended all of your expectations, but it doesn't come out at the right time. I have done movies that have never been released. That can be depressing.

Sobriety and health is the greatest thing.

Sometimes I think about retiring but not stopping work. Just 're-tiring' - put on some new tires and go on to do something else.

Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend.

Sometimes, you can not click with somebody, and it can feel awkward.

Sticking with a marriage. That's true grit, man.

Sure, I get the blues. But what I try to do, is apply joy to the blues, you know? I don't know if it's a technique, or just being bent that way, being raised by the folks I was raised by.

Technology is such a broad kind of term, it really applies to so many things, from the electric light to running cars on oil. All of these different things can be called technology. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with it, as I expect most people do. With the computer, I spend so many hours sitting in front of a computer.

That movie, 'Airplane!,' what a landmark film it was. It's a great, great movie.

That's one of the cool things about fame. You have an affect on society and where it goes.

That's one of the things that's great about acting. You can play all the different aspects of a human being.

The barn doors are open, and the horses are running out because we've got guns all over the place. It's basically a cold war for individuals: you've got a nuclear bomb, and I've got a nuclear bomb, and the only thing stopping us from using them is the fact we both have them.

The first thing that pops into my mind when it comes to playing cowboys is my father, Lloyd Bridges. When I was a little kid, I loved to dress up like a cowboy - put on the boots, hat, and walk around. He was in a lot of westerns, and my dad loved to ride.

The hoopla with all the award season is kind of mind-boggling. It kind of puts you on your heels.

The more space and emptiness you can create in yourself, then you can let the rest of the world come in and fill you up.

The Oscar nomination is great. It's a great pat on the back. And I like that.

The problem with the designated driver programme, it's not a desirable job. But if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At then end of the night drop them off at the wrong house.

The toughest thing about making movies is being apart from your family. One of the things I try my best to do is call my wife every day to keep up to speed with what's going on in her life. And tell her what's going on with mine.

The way to change the world is through individual responsibility and taking local action in your own community.

The Widelux is a fickle mistress; its viewfinder isn't accurate, and there's no manual focus, so it has an arbitrariness to it, a capricious quality. I like that.

The wonderful thing about acting is that you can use all of your talents and interests in your work.

There are a lot of people getting killed by guns in our country for reasons, from my understanding, that are preventable. So many guns that are left loaded, unlocked. So you can educate. That doesn't seem to be too controversial - education.

There are so many things that pop up. If you are paying attention, you can learn every second of the day. Life is my guru.

There is one particular argument that I call our 'ancient war.' If it could be summed up in one phrase, it would be, 'You don't get it. You don't understand what it's like to be me living with you.' There is such truth in that statement. None of us can really appreciate what it is like to be the other person, what that point of view feels like.

There's a bit of the kid in me.

There's kind of a Zen aspect to bowling. The pins are either staying up or down before you even throw your arm back. It's kind of a mind-set. You want to be in this perfect mind-set before you released the ball.

This idea of how everything is interconnected, and the impermanence of things.. It sums up the human condition to me, and it helps me on my path.

This industry is tough on relationships. I've always thought that my wife should have a credit up alongside mine because I couldn't do what I do without her support.

Thoughts will change and shift just like the wind and the water when you're on the boat; thoughts are no different than anything else.

Tightness gets in the way of everything, except tightness.

To go into therapy is an adventure, not really to iron anything out.

Unlike a lot of actors, my father encouraged all his kids to go into show business.

Unlike a lot of actors, my father encouraged all his kids to go into show business. He loved it so much.

Unlike Texas Rangers, we actors don't have a stop date, so I don't know about retiring. Sometimes I want to stop acting, but then you get a good script!

We love things that are convenient.

Well, I'm not a big sports fan.

Well, there are all kinds of gutters. Life will supply you with gutters.

Well, when we made 'Tron' there was no internet, no cellphones.

We're here for such a short period of time.

We're here for such a short period of time. Live like you're already dead, man. Have a good time. Do your best. Let it all come ripping right through you.

We're such a funky species. We're so violent, so greedy - this is how we roll. But what are we going to do about it? How do we move forward given who we are? Because situations don't come out of nothing. They come out of certain conditions.

What are the aspects of yourself that line up with the character? You magnify those, and the ones that don't match up you kind of kick to the curb.

What I learned most from my father wasn't anything he said; it was just the way he behaved. He loved his work so much that, whenever he came on set, he brought that with him, and other people rose to it.

When a story is told really well and is real, even if it's not about their own lives, people can apply it to themselves.

When I was really young, my mom enrolled me in dance classes.

When I'm working, I'm very purposeful and everything else gets out of focus. Something I've had to work on together with my wife is how to acknowledge each other in the midst of this and keep the relationship going.

When I'm working, on sets or stages, my contracts specify in the rider that no plastic bottles be used. When I'm playing with my band, we all use metal and non-plastic containers for drinking to be ecologically sensitive and show others that this is the way to go.

Whenever I work on a part, I look at the world through the filter of the character and I pick things they might use through my observations of real life.

Whenever you're the child of a famous person, you get judged in odd ways because of that.

With a labyrinth, you make a choice to go in - and once you've chosen, around and around you go. But you always find your way to the center.

Women are so - maybe this is just a male perspective, but for my money, they're so connected to life in a way that men aren't. They're able to give birth, have children, and it's literally a part of them. They perhaps have a stronger capacity for caring than males.

Words fall short sometimes.

Work takes me away from my wife, Sue, and my life in Santa Barbara.

Working with my dad was such a gas. We approached the work in a similar way. We only made two films together when I was an adult, Tucker, and Blown Away, but it was so much fun to play with your parent like that.

Yeah I loved, as a kid growing up, I loved science-fiction.

Yeah, I loved Ray Bradbury.

Yeah, I'd been around horses most of my life.

Yeah, I've been interested in music since I was a teenager, always writing songs.

You always hear people say that having kids changes everything, but you can't fully realize it until you have children yourself.

You can relate to somebody's pain and you have compassion, which can lead to intimacy.

You don't want to vilify your ego.

You have these big USD200 and USD300 million movies with special effects, and I've always thought, 'Gee, why don't we make 30 movies instead of one USD300 million movie?' Let's shake it up a bit; wouldn't that be a better bet? Evidently not.

You know, ballet might be too formal of a title for the type of dance I do, but I love to dance.

You know, I thought we could use a good myth about technology to help guide us through these particular modern waters right now.

You know, it's kind of a shame in a way but the more seasoned directors a lot of times have more difficult getting a job than first time guys. New kid on the block kind of thing.

You prep, you prep, you prep. And on the day that you film, you let all of that go. I try to achieve emptiness as much as possible - the Zen thing - to let the deal come out of that nothing.

Your part can be the king, but unless people are treating you like royalty, you ain't no king, man.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

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