Speaking with EW, Jeff Bridges gave his thoughts on the Western heist flick Hell or High Water which he stars alongside Chris Pine and Ben Foster. The Oscar-winner portrays a a Texas Marshall as he hunts down two brothers (Pine and Foster) who are out to rob as many banks as they can.
But these robberies are far from a random event or purely selfish rationale, targeting in particular a company that savaged the local area with bad loans and debt as they seek revenge. Bridge knew how authentic and relevant the script was as soon as he picked it up and the film has garnered significant critical acclaim since making it's debut.
Bridges: I'm Rooting For Trump
When asking The Dude what he thought about the narrative post November 8, Bridges put the story into perspective.
"The story the movie is telling shines a light on why the election went the way that it did, and how seriously disappointed many people have been in the way that the government is running," argued the actor. "They have little faith in it, and we’ll see. I hope we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here. But I’m rooting for the guy, Mr. Trump. One of the things that’s most appealing about him is his unpredictability. A less kind word might be his hypocrisy, but unpredictability and hypocrisy are things that each of us human being share. It’s something we all struggle with and work with."
And Bridges understood how important the aftermath would be and how those that felt defeat would react.
"I was pleased to hear his acceptance speech. Taken out of context, that would be wonderful. Talking about unpredictability, who would have thought that he would be praising Hillary Clinton and thanking her for her wonderful work after trashing her and inviting all of the people who didn’t vote for him, that he’d be looking for guidance from these people, all of these wonderful things? I’m rooting for the guy, but we’ll see how it all goes. You just don’t know how it will all work out."
Veteran Says Acting Part of His Groove
Heading towards his 70s, The Big Lebowksi star does not see a retirement on the horizon.
"The word “momentum” comes to mind," laughs Bridges. "It’s probably just because I’ve been doing it for so long that it’s become part of my groove. It’s kind of what I do, you know? I do my best to try to not make movies – it’s funny – to not engage, because I know what that costs. For one thing, you get on board of one movie, and then you can’t do some other movie. You’re not even sure what that movie might be, but you’re kind of booked."
While it is easy at his age to get distracted, he keeps things in perspective and remains passionate to advocate for issues he feels are important.
"It takes up a certain amount of time," he explains. "There are so many other things that I’d like to be doing in terms of being with my family. I have a lot of other interests – music and art. I’m also working toward ending hunger in our country. I’m focused on that and climate change. It takes time and energy when you’re doing a movie. I try hard not to do movie, and then every once in a while, you’ll get a script like Hell or High Water that’ll come down the pike and it will be too cool to turn down."
Comments