So to help promote the movie, I recently got to sit down for roundtable interviews with both Ted Danson and Jeff Bridges. Posted below is the one with Jeff.
During our twenty or so minutes we covered making this movie and all the projects he has coming up which include âIron Man,â âHow to Lose Friends and Alienate People,â and we even got in some âTron 2â questions. If you're a fan of either Jeff or the movies he has coming up... itâs a great interview.
But before getting to itâ¦hereâs the synopsis for âThe Amateursâ:
Down-and-out divorcee Andy Sargentee (Jeff Bridges), with the help of his five motley friends, brainstorms a genius idea to make their dreams come true. They are going to rally their small town to produce an amateur adult film! They think they've found the road to fame and fortune, but their fantasy quickly turns into a hilarious misadventure as they encounter more than a few bumps in the road. Their good natured attempts lead to the creation of the most un-adult, adult film ever. See how âThe Amateursâ bring an entire small town together, in the biggest comedic disaster turned boffo box office success.
Finally, if you missed the clips I previously posted you can watch them here. As always, if youâd like to listen to the MP3 of the interview just click here to download it. âThe Amateursâ arrives in limited release this weekend.
Question: The hair has grown back.
Jeff Bridges: Itâs growing, itâs growing.
Q: Looks good.
Jeff Bridges: Thank you.
Q: This is an unusual title change.
Jeff: Well call it amateuristic, you know?
Q: Is it because this it gave the end of the movie away? Is that why? What were the discussions to change it from The Moguls toâ¦because I remember when you were talking about itâ¦
Jeff: Some people thought it was a ski film. No, I donât know. The Moguls, I donât know. There was another film that was called The Moguls or something and they didnât want toâ¦
Q: Was it the Lou Watson documentary The Last Mogul?
Jeff: Iâm not sure what it was but for some reason they decided to change it to this title. So I printed up these books already and I had to cross them all out.
This is a usual question but for this I really have to ask you what was the attraction for you to this role?
Jeff: Well, like most of the movies I get involved with I resist it for as long as possible. I really try to figure out why I shouldnât do it and this one hadâ¦there were plenty of reasons not to do it. The reasons that attracted me to it in the first place is that it was so unusual. I hadnât ever read a script like this and it was tempting to put theseâyou know the porn aspect and this heartfelt kind of sweetness of Frank Capra and put those two things together and I thought that was really interestingâvery ambitious, but I didnât know if this guy who had never directed a filmâMike Traeger, who wrote the script would be able to pull it off and also it seemed odd, you know Iâd done movies in the past that have so many characters and I find as an audience itâs very hard to follow all these stories and you end up not caring about any of the people and I thought that would be the case in this one. And they had these big speeches for each character. I said God, youâre going to have to cut that down in order to edit the movie. My representatives kept saying âno you really should check it. You know you like the kind of freshness of it. Come on try it out.â I said âOh Godâ. I read it 3 or 4 times and finally I said all right. I want you guys to organize a reading and I want you to be there to see how terrible this is and itâs not going to work at all. So we sat at a big table like this and read the script and it just flew. It was great. Then that kind of swept me up and I figured well maybe Mike can hit this very small target because it could have goneâ¦it could have not worked and I think it works very well.
When the release started to get delayed did any of that old skepticism start coming back? Like ooh, maybe something did go wrong.
Jeff: No, I didnât really get all the ins and outs of why it didnât get released. It was kind of very convoluted and Iâm sure there are a lot of sides to all the stories but it wasnât because of the nature of the film or anything like that. I think it was more business type stuff.
What is it about your character which you hope will reach out to people?
Jeff: One of the themes that kind of runs through thing is about how important friendship is and I think one of the cool things about this movie is Mike Traeger and the producer Aaron Ryder are best friends. So that initial relationship and friendship kind of permeated the whole shooting of it, so I hope that people come away appreciating their own friendships.
How much did you have to do with the casting? Itâs such a great cast.
Jeff: Isnât it a wonderful cast? I really spent a lot of time with them casting the film and I was encouraged to give all my input and everything and the guys listened to me and that was the case for all of us. It was a very inclusive feeling for the whole project. You know Mike was always interested in what everyone kind of thought and probably the coolest surprise casting wise was that Mary Steenburgen came in to read for a part and she said itâs a wonderful script and I like the part and all that but the real reason I am here is to agent my husband Ted Danson because he must play Moose. That was out of the blue. We had no ideaâwe had never considered him and we said really? Well, heâs a great actor weâll try him out and he just, of course, knocked it out of the park. He was wonderful. But the castâit was just so fortunate that we got such a great cast and as you can see from this book that you guys got, we assembled before we started shooting at my parentâs beach house, to kind of establish that deep old friendship that weâd all have and it was a lot of fun and it kind of worked too, I think.
Did youâbecause itâs such a great castâwhen you did the read-through did a lot of the dialogue change or was there a lot of ad libbing throughout this movie?
Jeff: No itâs kind of likeâyou know other good movies where you feel the dialogue could be improvised but very little was. The Big Lebowski was like that where people say that sounds soâ¦and weâd always go back and get every man and every ellipsis in there the way those guys write it and because not only is it saying what Michael wants the character to say but the way they all speak creates this tone because itâs not exactly real. You know you have that Frank Capra kind of aside to it and the characters are really well drawn, so I think everybody tried their best to stay faithful to the script.
Where did you film this?
Jeff: In a little town called Fillmore outside of
Oh, you shot in
Jeff: Yeah.
How much are you like him?
Jeff: Like Andy?
Like
Jeff: Well, I love to get ideas like that. Iâm kind of an idea guy. I have a small group of dear friends that go back to high school. One of my oldest friends, John Goodwin, we go back to the 4th grade together probably. He wrote quite a few songs in the movie. I donât know if I go through those deep depressions like that. Not lately anyway.
Youâve taken a lot of photos on a lot of your movie sets. Did you take any on âTronâ and did ever put out anything from âTronâ?
Jeff: I started doing these books around âStarmanâ was kind of the first. I think âTronâ was after âStarmanâ. Iâm trying to think. I didnât do a book for âTronâ but a few years ago I made a compilation of these books that I made for different films and I put a few photographs I did take in âTronâ are in that book. I hear theyâre going to make a sequel too.
I was also going to follow up with that, because thereâs always rumors about that.
Jeff: I know it. Iâm always curious to what theyâre going to say. I havenât heard about but I heard theyâre going to pitch me one pretty soon.
They showed it as part of a double bill at the New Beverly a little while ago and it holds up kind of well.
Jeff: Oh yeah? Gosh. And we were so excited when that came out with the technology and everything and then in about 2 seconds every commercial on the TV you could see all that stuff for free.
In a sequel to thatâis that a film that you think that youâd have to come up with some reasons why not to do it?
Jeff: Why not to do it? I donât knowâyou know the dance beltâwearing a dance belt. I know you ladies wear thongs, a dance belt is kind of like our version of the thong and itâs a terrible thing, man. You canât sit down. Then Iâve got tights and I donât know there are a lot of reasons not to do it. But the reasons to do it and the reason I did that one was because it was so innovative and I understand theyâve got a whole new batch of stuff like that that they wantâyou know innovations that they want to use on that, so that could be kind of fun.
Can you talk about âIron Manâ at all?
Jeff: What would you like to know about it? Well, itâs based on a comic book. What drew me to that was the cast that they had and the directorâJon Favreauâs directing it, and Iâve admired his acting and his writing and his directing for a while so they were very fortunate to have him at the helm and Robert Downey, Jr. is Iron Man and heâs wonderful to work with and heâs very talented. Terrance Howard, Gwyneth Paltrowâgreat cast and I got to shave my head which is a big plus, and I looked through the comic and I said oh the guyâs bald. It was a big plus.
Was it scary to do?
Jeff: Whatâs that?
To shave your head?
Jeff: Kind of scary but kind of cool. I enjoyed it. I really liked it.
I have two things. One in the trailer they show you looking at the armor very menacingly. Have youâ¦
Jeff: For about half a second.
Have you seen the trailer?
Jeff: Yeah, I think if thatâs when youâre talking about.
Have you seen any of the footage? Has
Jeff: No. Iâm going to see it in a couple of weeks I think but just from the trailer one of the things I liked about the trailer is you get a taste of the tone of the thing which I think is really good. I enjoyed that and thatâs Jon Favreau and Robert who reallyâtheyâre the ones responsible for setting that tone. I think its going to be good that way.
Whatâs more challenging for youâto do a small movie like this or a big budget summer movie like âIron Manâ?
Jeff: Each one is sort of the same and different. You know thereâs theâ¦part of the challenge of making it seem real and creating the world that youâre in and making interesting choices that kind of goes across on all the movies but with each movie itâs almost like youâre sitting down and playing a different game of cards with a bunch of different people and you donât know what kind of cards youâre going to get or what the game is going to be. Each one is very different. Generally speaking I would say I enjoy the smaller films more because thereâs a less sense of pressure and often the material is more unusual. But in âIron Manâ it was kind of like both worlds colliding because there was a lot of improvisation, not that we improv-ed in the scenes but to discover the actual scenes themselves we did a lot of improvisation together. And so in a way it had almost a sort of student kind of film side you know where you get him sitting there with you know Robert Downey and Jon Favreau and weâre playing around. Weâre jamming around and weâre writing those pages and the next couple of days thatâs what we do, so it was a good experience. Kind of frightening at first because you didnât know quite how it was all going to work out, but they had some very talented people there so it worked out wellâIâm hoping, I havenât seen it yet.
Are you doing a book for it because that would be interesting?
Jeff: Yeah, I wasnât in âIron Manâ enough to reallyâI felt it wouldnât really have shown the whole scope of making the movie. I took some photographs. I wasnât that knocked out by them actually.
Are you in any betting pools about how long the strike will last?
Jeff: Iâm not. What do you guys think?
I keep hearing at least as early as March.
Jeff: Then theyâve got the actorâs strike.
Do you expect this might set a president for what kind of deal the actors might get or might prevent the actors from striking?
Jeff: Yeah, I mean theyâre all connected. I think thatâs one of the points of the studios you know why this writers strike theyâre trying to figure out kind of an unknown. They donât know what the internet is all about so theyâre kind of reticent to set with the writers deal is because they know theyâre going to have to double that with the actors and then the directors, so theyâre kind of frightened on both sides and the writers donât want to give up this great thing but nobody knows what this thing is exactly, so itâsâI donât know how itâs going to go down.
Have you filmed anything since âIron Manâ or do you have anything that youâre getting ready to do?
Jeff: After âIron Manâ I did a movie with Simon Peg. Yeah, âHow to Lose Friends and Alienate Peopleâ. And that was a fun one and got to go to
Are you getting ready to film anything right now?
Jeff: A couple of things but theyâre in the works here. Theyâre not locked in yet, so I canât really let those cats out.
You play the boss in the movie?
Jeff: Yeah.
Could you talk a little bit about your character in the film and your relationship with
Jeff: Yeah. I playâletâs start with Simon. Simon plays the editor of a magazine thatâs very cutting edge and doesnât pull any punches kind of thing. Very small magazine and I play the editor-in-chief of a magazine thatâs big like âEsquireâ or âVanity Faireâ. Itâs based on a book and in that I playâall of a sudden my brain is failing me but âVanity Faireâ you knowâ¦
Jeff: Grayton Carter, right. Iâm not impersonating Grayton Carter or anything like that but thatâs the kind of person I am in the story and I want to bring Simon on board to add a little more cutting edge. In my characterâs past, I too had a small magazine like Simon that was no wholes barred kind of thing.
So that book was a memoir. Is this more of a fictionalized account of it?
Jeff: Yeah.
Insired by?
Jeff: Yeah, right.
Was there a lot of improv or did youâ¦and how was it working with
Jeff: There wasnât any improv. Simon was great. A lovely guy and wonderful to work with. There really wasnât much improv. There might have been an occasional idea that pops up now and then but I donât remember doing a lot of improv there.
Jeff: You know, Iâve done all my research before I came to the movie. It was well researched. (lots of laughter)
Jeff: Well, Thanksgiving weâll all gather at my house. A big thanksgiving dinner and whoâs got Christmas this year? I think we usually do it at Beauâs house, so weâre probably going to do that. My momâs still feisty and kicking. Sheâs 92. I saw her last night. I donât know if any of you guys knew that she published a bookâher first book at 90. Itâs a wonderful, wonderful book called âYou Caught Me Kissingâ and itsâ basically love poems that she wrote for my dad but itâs more than that. Itâs a wonderful book.
Whatâs your favorite memory of those Bridgeâs family Christmasâ?
Jeff: Well, the bike. Getting that bike. That was a cool thing. Did you ever get a bike?
I donât think for Christmas but I certainly had bikes.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, but getting that bike for Christmas I remember that was a big one for me.
How old were you and what kind of bike?
Jeff: I donât how oldâ¦I want to say 8 somehow pops in myâ¦but my brother Beau you know, heâs 8 years older than I am so he had the really cool bike and my bike was kind of like a smaller versionâlike the gooseneck with the butterfly things and you can put the cards on the things.
Do you have any more plans for releasing any more albums in the future?
Jeff: I hope so. Yeah, Iâd like to. Music is still very close to my heart. Like I was saying my buddy John Goodwin wrote some tunes in this and Iâm writing with him all the time. The last album I made had a lot of his songs. So music is still a big part of my life and I hope I do that.
Are you and Beau looking at doing any projects together in the near future?
Jeff: We always look forâ¦for a while Beau was going to be in this. It was going to be wonderful to work with him again but then it didnât work out. He had some other obligations that he had to do and he couldnât do it but weâre always looking for something to do. Itâs hard to find something that kind of transcends the gimmick of a brother thing. You know with âThe Fabulous Baker Boysâ that script was so great and it was just one that fit us like a glove so to come up to find something as good as that. Somebody was saying they were talking to Michelle Pfeiffer and she was saying there was going to be a sequel. Oh, thatâs good.
All these sequels you have.
Jeff: I didnât know about it. Itâs great.
What part was Beau going to play in this?
Jeff: They were going to switch it and make it Tim Blake Nelsonâs character my brother.
Did you do any music on this?
Jeff: No, but as I say my buddy did and also my daughter, Jessieâs got a tune in it too. Sheâs going to be doing some good music Iâm hoping. Iâm rooting for her.
I was just going to say
Jeff: Gosh, I had the feeling of knowing him for a long time but I canât remember that first time, but itâs always great to see him today.