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Actor Jeff Bridges sits down to guess lines from some of his most famous roles. He discusses the inspiration behind The Dude in 'The Big Lebowski', the practical special effects in 'Tron' and why 'Iron Man' felt like making a "$200 million student film."

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00:00That's something I actually said, huh?
00:02Don't put this in what I'm doing right now.
00:04Don't do it now, you guys.
00:06Woo-hoo!
00:08Woo!
00:14Okay.
00:16Okay, let's see what we got here.
00:19The do-de-binds.
00:20That's an easy one. That's, uh,
00:22the big Lebowski.
00:25The do-de-binds.
00:26There was a guy that Coen Brothers wrote about,
00:29you know, based on the script, a guy named
00:32Jeff Dowd,
00:34who called himself The Dude.
00:36I think he was known as The Dude.
00:38And there's a lot of The Dude in me,
00:40you know, so I use myself
00:42for the character quite a bit.
00:44Dowd is a cool guy. He came by the set
00:46and hung out a bit.
00:47So we got to know each other.
00:49I've been asked to perform a marriage.
00:52I've got to get my
00:54dude license. I'm not formally
00:56a dudist, but, uh,
00:58in spirit I certainly am.
01:00Okay.
01:03Trying to rid the world of weapons,
01:06you gave it the best one!
01:10And I'm gonna destroy you with it!
01:14Iron Man!
01:16Oh!
01:17Trying to rid the world of weapons,
01:19you gave it the best one ever!
01:22Well, they had Robert Downey Jr.
01:25and Jon Favreau,
01:27those two guys.
01:29Oh, see, I'm biased
01:31because I'm in the thing,
01:32but that's my favorite superhero movie.
01:34I think you'd, gosh, that was a good one.
01:37Jon Favreau, man.
01:38What a great artist.
01:40You know, we read the script,
01:42and the script wasn't working,
01:44and we said, uh, you know,
01:47Downey and Favreau,
01:48you know, I would meet in the trailer,
01:50you know, we'd work it out,
01:52we rehearsed for a long time,
01:53we were ready to go,
01:55and we showed this, what we'd come up with
01:58to the suits, you know,
01:59to the producers, the financiers,
02:02oh, no, this, you can't go.
02:03I said, what do you mean? What do we do?
02:05And so we had to write our scenes
02:09just before we filmed them.
02:11You know, we'd, all the crew
02:13would be in the, you know, soundstage
02:15waiting for us, we'd be in the trailer
02:17trying to come up with
02:19the dialogue for scenes
02:21and stuff, and pass it inspection
02:23to the, oh, God, it was crazy.
02:25It drove me
02:27just out of my mind until
02:29I finally made this little inner
02:31adjustment that really helped
02:33me. And I said, Jeff,
02:36don't worry about it,
02:37you're making a $200 million
02:39student film. You're just
02:41playing, you're just messing around.
02:42Like, alright, relax, just have fun.
02:45Look at the guys you get to play with.
02:47Oh, we had a ball.
02:52Let's see here.
02:54Where would King Arthur be without Guinevere?
03:11What a great time that was.
03:14Terry Gilliam, you know, the great
03:16producer.
03:17He really assembled an amazing cast.
03:20Robin, he was amazing.
03:22I can remember
03:25you would be working late in the
03:27nights. We'd all be exhausted.
03:30And Robin would get
03:31this kind of devilish look
03:33on his face and he would stand up
03:35and he would start
03:37busting everybody's chops,
03:39just go around like this,
03:41for about 10 minutes.
03:42And most directors would say,
03:44OK, Robin, let's get back to work.
03:46But Terry would egg him on and say,
03:48yeah, but what about him?
03:49Look at this guy with the glasses.
03:50You know, and so Robin
03:52was just so brilliant to work
03:55with. I could go on and on about
03:56Robin.
03:59Let's see.
04:01Fill your hand, you
04:02son of a bitch.
04:06That
04:08is
04:08from True Grit, right?
04:11Yeah, that was
04:13that was a fun one.
04:15Fill your hand, you
04:16son of a bitch!
04:18Remember the Coen
04:19brothers, we had a fake horse
04:21and all that to do, you know,
04:23put the rings in your teeth and shoot
04:25with a double gun. I don't know if it was Joel
04:27or Ethan, he came up to me and he said,
04:29do you think you could do it for real?
04:31I said, yeah, man, let's try it.
04:33And I got the...
04:36That was great fun.
04:38I remember when
04:39the brothers
04:41called me up and said, hey, we want to
04:43make this a remake
04:45of True Grit. I said, what do you want? Why
04:47man? John Wayne had this famous
04:49movie and they said, well, have you read the Charles
04:51Portis book?
04:53True Grit? I hadn't and I
04:55read it and then I saw why because it read
04:57just like a Coen brothers script.
04:59Wonderful story and they did a brilliant
05:01job.
05:07I gave you a baby tonight.
05:11Starman.
05:12Right. Yeah.
05:13I gave you a baby tonight.
05:16Karen Allen.
05:18Very special time
05:20in my life making that movie
05:22Starman. I take
05:23photographs when
05:26I'm making movies and it all started with
05:28Karen Allen who said, gee,
05:30I love these photographs
05:32that you're taking with this funny
05:33wide angle panning camera
05:36that you use. Why don't we make a
05:38book and give it as a gift
05:40to the cast and crew?
05:41So that started a long
05:43you know, history of me
05:46doing that and I've made, I think
05:48maybe 30 or so books.
05:50The camera that I use, the Wide Lux,
05:52that factory got burned down
05:54about 30 years ago.
05:55But my wife, Sue,
05:58who gave me a Wide Lux
06:00for our wedding anniversary
06:0249 years ago.
06:05We are bringing that camera
06:06back to life. We're calling it
06:08the Wide Lux X.
06:10I think the last book I made
06:12was from Bad Times
06:14at the El Royale.
06:20Okay, let's see.
06:21Greetings Programs.
06:24Ah, Tron.
06:27Greetings Programs.
06:29Tron, 1982.
06:32Now we shot that movie
06:33in 70 millimeter black and white.
06:37The sets were basically
06:39black duvetyne with white
06:41adhesive tape that they made glow.
06:45So the special effects were,
06:47you know, very primitive.
06:49All our costumes were black and white.
06:51The sets were all black and white.
06:53And I can remember
06:54going out of the soundstage
06:56and the colors of life
06:58would just boom, hit you
07:00like a ton of bricks.
07:02But there was very little
07:03special effects in those days.
07:06I mean, they're all practical.
07:08I want to talk about how bad
07:10you make this room look.
07:12I never knew what a dump it was
07:14until you came in here.
07:26And I said that to the fabulous
07:29Maggie Gyllenhaal.
07:31Such a wonderful actor.
07:32And her movies now, she's directing now.
07:35I don't know if you've seen The Bride,
07:37but it was just an incredible movie.
07:39And then you got Scott Cooper.
07:42That was his first movie, man.
07:44He directed that movie so brilliantly.
07:48And Bobby Duvall was the producer
07:51and so supportive of this young director
07:54who also wrote the film.
07:56And it's great to go out now
07:58and see his other movies that are so wonderful.
08:03Let's see.
08:05You'll never be done with it, no matter what.
08:09It's gonna haunt you, son,
08:10for the rest of your days.
08:12But you won't be alone.
08:14It's gonna haunt me too.
08:17Yeah.
08:21That is...
08:24I know they changed the title
08:26at the last moment of it.
08:28But it's gonna...
08:29Hell or high water, right?
08:30Yay!
08:31You'll never be done with it, no matter what.
08:34It's gonna haunt you, son,
08:35for the rest of your days.
08:37Another wonderful, wonderful experience.
08:39I love making that movie.
08:42Just how real it seemed.
08:44Joaquin Jackson was a real famous Texas Ranger
08:47who was on the set every day
08:49and really helped me so much.
08:52That one was so great.
08:53David McKenzie, you know, our director,
08:56brought together this amazing cast.
08:58Chris Pine.
09:01What's his name?
09:02I'm forgetting that.
09:03What's his name?
09:04Foster?
09:04Dan.
09:05And what's the other guy?
09:07Gil.
09:07Gil, yeah.
09:08This is like a bad dream.
09:10I can't remember these guys' names.
09:12I'm gonna try another take, too.
09:14He's saying,
09:14Oh, yeah.
09:16Heavens.
09:16No, I'm not forgetting the movie.
09:18Don't put this in, what I'm doing right now.
09:21Don't do it now, you guys.
09:24Hey.
09:24Gil Birmingham, Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and David McKenzie.
09:37Okay.
09:38David McKenzie, our director, brought together this phenomenal cast.
09:43You got Chris Pine, Ben Foster playing such wonderful brothers,
09:48and Gil Birmingham, who was my partner.
09:52Wow.
09:52It was so great to play with these guys.
09:55Had a great time on that one.
09:57If this scene is terrible, you will never work in this town again.
10:04And I said this, if this scene is terrible, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
10:14Minions and Monsters.
10:16Ah.
10:17Yeah.
10:18All right.
10:19Go see Minions and Monsters.
10:22It's a wonderful film.
10:23Woo.
10:24If this scene is terrible, you will never work in this town again.
10:29Looking at those drawings of Frank and Elwood, that gave me a big tip.
10:36And then also just the lines.
10:38You're reading the lines that they wrote.
10:40And then being there with Pierre Coffin, you know, the creator of this,
10:45throwing out a bunch of different ways of doing it,
10:48and we kind of narrowed it down.
10:50I had a ball doing it.
10:51I did, you know, one guy first.
10:53I think maybe the grumpy guy first, and then, you know,
10:58did the more joyous light cat, you know, later.
11:02They look exactly the same except have different mustache treatments,
11:07you know.
11:07I like that.
11:08I wasn't privy to these, you know, Despicable Me and all these other great films.
11:15Since then, I have seen some of them and got myself a bit up to speed.
11:19I love it that Minions and Monsters really is a whole new batch of minions
11:25and a completely different direction.
11:29You know, James and Henry and Ed, they break away from the minions
11:34who are, you know, all about assisting the most evil person that they can find.
11:39And they've fallen in love with making movies, which I can totally relate to.
11:44And so the essence of the movie for me is how love conquers evil, you know.
11:51Okay.
11:56Yeah, I'll see you in a year or two if I don't get shot.
12:00The Last Picture Show.
12:04Right?
12:05I'll see you in a year or two if I don't get shot.
12:07Peter Begdanovich, man.
12:09Wow.
12:10Timmy Bottoms.
12:11Ellen Burstyn.
12:13Yeah.
12:14I recently got into acting through my dad, Lloyd Bridges.
12:18I'm like a lot of parents who are in showbiz, you know, who say, oh, they, you know, kind of,
12:25they tell their kids, you don't want to get into this.
12:29It's too heartbreaking and it's too crazy.
12:32Both my parents love showbiz.
12:35And I can remember back in the late 50s, early 60s, my dad had a TV show called Sea Hunt.
12:42And he would come up to me.
12:44I'd be about eight years old or so.
12:45And he'd say, hey, you want to come to work with dad?
12:47Come on.
12:48I say, well, you get to get out of school, man.
12:52Come on.
12:52We'll have a lot of fun.
12:54And so he really enticed me that way.
12:58And I loved working with my dad.
13:00I got to work with him twice in a movie called Blown Away and another one called Tucker that
13:07Francis Coppola directed.
13:08And we had a great time pretending with each other, you know.
13:12But the main thing I learned from him, he approached the work with such joy and excitement whenever
13:19he would come on to a sound stage.
13:22And when I got to work with him as an adult, it was very apparent.
13:25His excitement and the sense of fun that he had was kind of contagious.
13:31And it would go through the company.
13:33And people would say, yeah, I guess this is kind of fun what we're doing.
13:37You know, when you have that sense of fun and joy, you relax.
13:43And with that relaxation, lets the good stuff bubble up, you know, more effortlessly.
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