Jeff Bridges returns as ‘The Old Man’

an agent with the FBI has been abducted she's my daughter the old man what a cool show we rewatch season one um just so I could prepare for season two again um before we dive into that um how are you feeling it's wonderful to be back for season two and you're right I did have a health scare I was right on death's door I didn't know if I was going to be making movies or doing anything uh and uh I look at season one now some of those fight scenes and I kind of winced because I didn't know it at the time but I had a 9 by 12 inch Mass a tumor in my stomach from lymphoma it was a lymphoma and uh I was doing all those fight scenes getting hit in the stomach I couldn't believe it but I'm so glad that the cast and the crew all hung together to uh waited it out with me and I you know about a year later we came back and started working again it was really wonderful so we had to wait till the last episode to see you and John leow together so when season two starts the two of you are right into it um what was it like to get together with him finally and start shooting the the the new season yeah and we had just wonderful time we both come from Showbiz families you know so we had a lot in common and uh and we approach the work in the same way you know both pretty open guys uh try to give as much love and compassion to everybody around us and that uh that seems to work as far as being friends you know and doing good work together I I really enjoyed it and that goes for Amy brenaman and Alia sh shock cat as well you know terrific very lucky in that that way when I think about all the cool characters you've played dance man he is so cool and we get to see that unfold over the course of in season one in seven episodes um seven hours with this guy um you know what was it about Dan chase that that that click with you uh I was fascinated uh by uh the C the CIA and spy aspect we have together uh we have with us uh a guy who's our um our technical advisor Christopher um Christopher hudleston who was a former CIA agent and uh I got to find out some you know amazing things well one thing that we we I had in common with the guy not to the extent that he uh had to act but we're both actors you know CIA spies they're probably the best actors in the world they start they're acting for their lives you know so I could relate to uh relate to the whole job of playing Dan Chase in that respect uh Gord Dan I think he's played so many characters so well for so long he doesn't know who the hell he is oh it's so cool to see some of my favorite actors doing television shows and and I look through your film I mean man it's been like since the 60s you did some shows on seal hunt I think it was SE seah hunt yeah SE H seal hunt Sea Hunt uh was TV something like did you wanted to get into did you see what was happening over in that realm I think you wanted to jump into that well I was concerned you know for a long time uh my my father Lloyd Bridges who was in several TV series I I saw how hard he worked and also how uh you know disappointed he was that it was TV and not a movie that that movies there was more uh concentration pulling off the detail and you know everything was a better quality but today that's not the case you know you got movies like succession and you that are so uh so well done great people doing them and the you know the quality uh is is you know spectacular I I was concerned about that getting involved with this series but I'm so glad that I didn't let that stop me from getting involved because that proved not to be the case that feels like I'm making a movie I you know same attention to detail the cinematography in our show is just brilliant as is the direct you know it's all topnotch the thing I love most about the old man is you never really quite know what's gonna happen I mean every episode sort of leaves you guessing and hanging yeah do you have like an ideal ending in mind for Dan Chase well that's the thing man that's a big difference between movies and series series like life or in this particular series we don't know where it's going I mean I certainly don't but uh John Steinberg are writer our showrunner he doesn't know all the specifics either so just like you get surprises when you watch it as an actor I get surprises when I find out what my character is going to do you know I don't I don't know it you know going in uh Dan Chase is drawn out of retirement Mr Bridges have you have you thought about retirement is does that even like cross your mind oh yeah yeah I think about it all the time and I uh my strategy and making movies certainly is I try to resist it you know don't I I don't want to do them do movies because I know what it takes not only the hard work but also time away from my family and all these other stuff that I like to do so I spent a lot of time resisting uh things that I'm offered I'm in a very fortunate position to be able to do that and so the things that I end up doing like the old man are things that I resisted but meeting with the other artist getting bathing in the story it becomes too intriguing to resist and I get sucked into that you know and uh that's just that's kind of my process I rhymed off some movies of yours at the beginning that I love um and then I remembered how much I liked your Oscar speech in 2010 I rewatched it on YouTube I found it rewatched it man what a cool like what a cool life right growing up in a showas family what has that meant to you Mr Bridges oh it's uh it's like a a wild dream you know H gosh I'm so fortunate forunate to be born in the bed that I was you know born into my parents were wonderful folks I'm a product of nepotism you know like you know I guess that's not too unusual you know guys dad's making shoes it's not too unusual to be a shoe maker whatever you know you that's what you you learn as you're growing up but I'm I'm so fortunate and the and the movies that you rattled off there all those wonderful stories I've been uh one of the things that I've done since Starman was take a photographs with this funny looking camera called a WID Lux and I been I make uh Gifts of books of those photographs for the cast and crew and and so I I get to look at those books and it brings me right back to those moments that camera has been discontinued because the factory in Japan has burned down about 30 years ago and my wife Susan who is also a photographer we're in the process now of remaking that camera the wide Lux uh with an outfit in Germany and that uh should be coming out soon next year so we're excited about that awesome okay Before I Let You Go I want to ask you about one of your movies I had to choose one so I'm gonna choose big Labowski turned 26 this year man I mean does it does it surprise you the longevity of that movie you must get it every single day everywhere you go oh man that movie is uh certainly one of my favorites but the Cohen Brothers you know they know how to make movies and unlike many movies that I've done like I I can't think of another movie I've done where it's manifested in these different blooms you know you have Labowski fests now they go on for days uh there was a book that I wrote with a friend called the dude in the Zen master that is directly from the Labowski uh I think there's a I think there's a a book called Two Gentlemen from Verona that's like is Shakespeare wrote wrote the screen flag you know it has all these offshoots that's wonderful but it uh it's a you know I'm so happy to have been a part of telling that story been working with those guys but could you have imagined that at the time what's no idea I knew it was funny I was surprised when it first came out it didn't do that well you know people people didn't kind of get it or something but yeah I had to be a hit in I think in Europe and then splash back over here yeah well you know that's just like uh your opinion man do avenge someone to show somebody you love them there's no going back from 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