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Jeff Bridges On Surviving Hollywood

Jeff Bridges is Bad Blake in Crazy Heart

Actor Jeff Bridges may best be known as “The Dude” in Joel and Ethan Coen’s The Big Lebowski but this versatile actor has managed to survive the Hollywood game. What's his secret? He reveals it to CineMovie.

The four-time Academy Award nominee reminded audiences of his talents with his memorable performance as the bad ass Obadiah Stane in 2008’s mega blockbuster Iron Man as Robert Downey Jr.'s nemesis.

In his latest role as a washed-up country singer in CRAZY HEART, Bridges reinvents himself once again and will no doubt be awarded for it with a slew of awards starting with a Golden Globenomination for best actor in a musical.

A talented musician in real life, the role of ‘Bad Blake’ in CRAZY HEART was not a long stretch for the actor who plays guitar and sings in the movie. Bad Blade is a whole lotta country as a drunken mess of a man playing long-ago #1 hits in third-rate beer joints and bowling alleys to drunken crowds. The character is unlike anything he has ever played and he says that is the key to making a career out of acting. MOVIE CLIP: Watch Jeff Bridges perform as Bad Blake

The Tron star tells CineMovie he learned about Hollywood early on through his famous father Lloyd Bridges (Airplane! Hot Shots!). “I took a lot of cues on how he ran his career.” An accomplished theater actor, Lloyd Bridges came to be best known for his role as a skin diver in the popular tv series Sea Hunt during the 1960’s. According to Jeff, “He pulled it off so well that people thought he was a skin diver.” Jeff described his father as ‘frustrated’ when all the scripts coming in were for skin divers. “It drove him crazy,” Jeff added. Therefore, Jeff learned to “mix it up” in order to stay relevant and avoided the pitfalls his father faced. “It’s more enjoyable for me to play different parts," says the 61 year-old actor.

The 40-year movie veteran also credits the women in his life for his longevity in the entertainment business. "My mother is kind of the rock of our family and really supported my dad,” according to Jeff. He goes on to say his wife of 33 years is like his mom – “she really holds us all together.” Crazy Heart movie poster

Jeff Bridges may play one crazy heart in his new movie but this talented actor seems to have it all together when it comes to choosing roles in Hollywood. With Oscar buzz circling his performance in CRAZY HEART, Jeff Bridges will outlast most young actors. For 2010, the 60 year-old is reprising his role in the remake of Disney's Tron next year.

Jeff Bridges goes little bit country alongside a cowboy-ed up Colin Farrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Batman: The Dark Knight) and Robert Duvall when CRAZY HEART opens in select theaters Wednesday, December 16.

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