Matthew McConaughey & Jeff Bridges - Actors on Actors - Full Conversation

Oh Jeff Bridges hey man Matthew I feel like I've met you or at least we hung out many times but then if I look at my calendar 47 years this is our first now don't you find that with actors that we're kind of I don't know but it is a club of eternity or sorority whatever you want to call it that not all actors but most I find you just link up because we have so much in common all that fear we got a headdress and get through it and all of that right so I mean we met just a few moments ago yeah oh yeah brother yeah maybe we were from upfront we were brothers from another mother somewhere another life I don't know but and I do feel that there's a fraternity within it with actors but I mean you in particular and specifically I'm not like I know that guy I've met him and I but I have God also we're gonna watch him movies all the way back - against all odds and King Kong with my favorite one introducing Jessica Lange when you there um Rachel Ward she's tall ah I just wanted to be everywhere you guys uh everywhere you were um let me ask you a question about hell or high water mm-hmm which a diss song we've been talking about that director in your experience on that I entered the film when you take out Penn Foster's character your reaction is that was what I was my thought that was brilliant because there was relief there was a fear there was a psalmist it was like a child's reaction of I just did what needed to be done but I didn't immediately understand the consequences after I just did it can you tell me about yeah yeah well now as you asked that question I don't know how you feel about this like to expose the back thing you know and I take pictures from the you know behind the movies a lot within this Wildlife's camera so I'm as guilty as anybody but in a way it's a bit like saying I'm going to show you a magic trick now look at this hat and you see there's a false bottom and then a little rabbit fits in there and then you show the threat you know so I'm a little concerned about having people and but this is stuff this is in a son you know this is a hard part of a for me I find it so difficult this is the kind of the Barker at the Carousel part of our profession right welcome plums right our movie everybody you know how do you frame it without spoiling the thing you know I love seeing movies my favorite way to see movie is to not to know anything about it I know like well I'm thinking some of your movie you know like Magic Mike for instance I had no idea then a camera but now you ask me that question now you know let me get into Mesa get into as best I can so you know only we're you know what you know lovely I don't mean that you know magic let me see Mike let me sweet strong away so you know you should the guy you don't like you say you a lot of motions are going on you can imagine you know in real life of that what's going on your best friend you've been killed you don't know if you can get this guy you're old you're out of brass you should have it like that you popping off relief I got it you know this stranger is looking at you like that alright let's get out yeah I don't you know you just kind of throw it you know you throw it and sometimes you know starting a seat you know just before the just where you are before they say actually don't you that's kind of a big thing do you think it's like you know where you are you know and so and then and then and then and then you go and how you how you set off and they often say well what can I do and you know sometimes just you know you know I'll ask the you know fest being God what if this anyway what you take me man what do you want me to do you're not do anything right just keep the girl acts gotta finish this try and [ __ ] it up what yeah impossible try oh yeah there you go there you go maybe one of these bank robbers is gonna want to fight and I can dodge my retirement in a blaze of glory well I'll sing a shoe won't be much glory in it oh and you work with Kevin Bacon now he said of great thee were doing a scene and you know I don't know about you but I got a lot of anxiety when I'm working on tension you especially when the material is good you want to do it justice you know so we're doing the scenes a bunch of actors you know around and Kevin's there and he brings his just come on guys and we rally around he does not just remember everything depends on this right it kind of puts it all in this big mess oh yeah like now air yeah but also that moment you know what you bring in that moment that is everything how you how your you know dancing in the long yeah I don't know what well you talk about it approach where are you right before going in I hear you cuz you don't want to be you know I've done it before where you know if you you know if you do when you do it taking like that I hit it I hit oh and if the director somebody says oh that was really good and you point out you get conscious up to what you did the next takes gonna suck because I'll be anticipating oh I'm gonna really hit that thing that work was so true and then I put a cherry on top of a charity oil [ __ ] yeah well or we had the experience where you think oh man I kicked it I kicked that thing oh yeah then you go see dailies the next day and there's some [ __ ] up there cathartic you know has nothing to do with tell him the story you got off yeah cause if you were great to have all that yeah yeah but if you doesn't apply to the story you're telling you and other times when the director will say we've got to move on I wasn't feeling it and then you see Dean's and you go oh he was right as fine huh there's never that great quote this different screen self-expression in art you know I mean yeah I've done it before and I'm seeing it well yeah you go up and you get off yeah but in the context of telling that story and building an architecture of the character you're going well okay then one-man show over what movie what movie was that in that's right now yeah right but that doesn't help what we're building yeah he's he's in his Brian he's my father's hands have scratched and clawed to the hot earth these hands who maybe you with his hands say hey I recently saw gold man dug that movie now tell me about that tell me how that came about how it attracted you to it and all that came to me about four years ago one of three scripts I've read first today's confused segment was Magic Mike and third one being gold where after reading it one time I said I gotta be this guy yeah I immediately felt like I was seeing him from the inside out you know that can be sometimes it happens early sometimes her ass off get there sometimes it doesn't even happen at all and this after one read and then I wouldn't research the true parts of the event of this story there was an immediate understanding for me through it and an impression that I had a my father in 1986 so I'm 60 day before Christmas and dad says come on buddy let's go get some stocking stuffers at Kmart do we hop in his Dodge Ram charger head up high 59 southwest Houston to Grace Lee need a he gets off early before the Kmart goes under the overpass and bulls in a single-story abandoned shopping mall broken glass graffiti we go around back dumpsters down power lines there's a white van down there and a guy flashes the lights we pull up my mob says stay here this is Chicago John alright I'm sixteen go this is great well you oughta be out there it's 2:30 in the afternoon before Christmas well this little short bald pudgy guy gets out and I leather jacket he goes and he opens up the back of the van is a kitchen sink back there there's a washing machine microwave like a walk-in pawnshop right he opens up a glove by a little shoe box pull something out wrapped in paper towels he goes and backs into the open door of the passenger seat of the van and my dad's in front of him so my dad goes back to me well whatever he opened up made my dad shoulders go oh gee and my dad gets this day pulls reaches in his pocket and I see my dad from behind doing this I know that move I could this is dad counting out hundreds well it's a Benjamin Franklin all that for whatever is in that was in that shoebox he comes back to the car hand it to me says put in the glove box buddy we drive off don't say a word I don't know if we got it Cobra a ferret what do we got yeah and we drive for about five minutes without a word being said he finds his reaching the glove box buddy see if it's still there I'm sixteen this is great what the hell is it ride it pull it out I open on the middle console and there's a silver watch and my dad goes god damn buddy that's a $22,000 titanium Rolex and I just got it for three grand put it away put it away well that watch wasn't worth five bucks but he loved the shady deal he loved him work with he would rather do a shady deal with fun people than a straight deal with straight people good deal with straight people and in that moment of my dad counting the money that's where I saw this beer to Kitty Wells you know guys I got to come in the side door to get the American right yeah you know I mean and sometimes he sometimes that that kind of your approach you know work sometimes it doesn't like all approaches I think don't you think yeah I mean it it seems to be I'm anything I'm kind of learning that well when I find something that really works I'll lock on to it I'm learning to go don't lock on to anything you know that can work that your whiffer but you may have a different inspiration for another character you never had before um some tripe Chai's I get as a do this longer trying to put less and less rules on myself on how to go by and I mean keep learning yeah but I was talking about the story and the character well I found fascinated about the story ago is about this guy who you're kind of you're rooting for and then you say oh no don't do that he does it and sometimes he falls on his ass and sometimes he gets that letter in the man you know and that's like life isn't it that's what I kind of dug about the message of that movement you might have me that you know that Zen story of the you know the farmer who's got this you know beautiful you know a bunch of horses and one day his horse leaps over the fence and all his horses go and his neighbor come to the next dance I was terrible how terrible that happening you lost all your horses it exists well we'll see a couple days later his mayor comes back and she's got a whole herd of horses on this beautiful black stallion with her and neighbor comes and says how quandary you know your your horses not only came back but brought this other great horse you know how lucky you Isis bubbles say a couple of weeks later his son gets on that stallion it rears brakes books the guy off he breaks his leg neighbor comes also sorry about your son well we'll say a couple of weeks later the war breaks out they're coming and looking for young soldiers you know he comes to his houses you know your son where is he or Summerlin was it well he'd love to come but he's Bradbrook oh we can't use him neighbor goes well we'll see you know you just never know anything I do it keeps flopping of what you think is your downfall is you're small and it's yeah Wow it is well yeah it's in you know it's when can we become conscious that everything is ultimately as it's meant to be sometimes you notice it right soon after the fact for me I know I try to get relative pretty quickly when I'm faced with the inevitable you know let's get on with this figure out how this is gonna be constructive to my life but instead of becoming a disease in my life you know yeah how'd you find out years later sometimes you find out the light you hear people find out on their deathbed and a lot of people we don't find out till we don't find out yeah until we you know move on if we find out then yeah it is a trip yeah I'm figuring my own my own life with I'm dangerous when I get sucked into happy came out fast anything uh you know watch out now then often also notice that the times when it's the worst you know we're you know thinking about I'm good just poppin to my math fights with my wife or something I got then after a while you get into it it's a it's an opportunity to get felt more intimacy I get deeper in turn you know and that very thing you were trying to avoid turns out to be the girl the gold hurt you learn how much the lead how much $200 and they left it before the bank was robbed before this bank was robbed iconic characters dude yeah yeah I guess so this is probably part of the reason I felt the kindred to you as I played a character early on my career first film I'm getting David Wooderson baby even confuse yeah what's in the David I figured you have a nice would have a nice yeah whatever right um how do you do good that you the dude goes with you these people come up I mean I have some people come up to me and say the first line of the day's line and I'll say the second half back and that's my favorite fans kind of cuz I'll did yeah but there's a certain Wooderson fans who are like quote Wooderson to me now play will come up obviously to you quote they do yes the whole time how's it feel oh well I love that man I mean I'm such a fan of that movie but a good movie and whether I was in it or not it'd probably be one of my favorite movies you know the Coen brothers the mastered cats you know they're so good so any kind of recognition from that movie I've no I'm not I never get tired of it or you know I should I have a a band man we're called the abiders we look at realizing it so not only dreaming up with it you like taking on this town I mean we we performed I had my beaming moment man went to a Lebowski Fest you know they got these too fast and we showed up you know who plays that's my Beatle my Beatle moment playing to a sea of dudes and yes ends you know oh god I knew that I didn't I was damn sure that was gonna be your answer oh you were just gonna go I love it oh yeah crowd of movie I embrace it I actually bands name the advisers we go play at the dude for that I just figured that was going to be your ranch but that wouldn't be everybody's answer you know there are some people like oh I'm tired of them asking me to play my greatest hit and then ask me to play my hit would you see please see me for what I'm doing now there would be people sitting in your seat that might it's such a it's such a good movie those guys this is the kind of thing I admire in acting or directing or anything you don't see the effort it's just it's like falling off a log you know in those guys you look at that movie and it's just you know it's it's bold your performance in gold is quite bold but it seems like it's no big deal not a same thing with like Lebowski there's some bold stuff and they're like Tudor oh man yeah you know I'll be watching I'll be sitting there spinning you know the TV clicker you know you know bascule come on so I'll just watch still Tutera licks the ball and now you'll move on and then I I said well I'll watch what and I can't stop because each scene is just candy man it's so good I don't know tell me about that making it look easy cuz you make it look really easy I've heard people tell me kind make it look easy look at you rolled out of bed didn't prepare and just walk on set and and and like did it and I know it that I can't do that I know it takes a whole lot of work for me to make it look easy well something comes to mind from what you just said a while back about you know learning the you know don't don't you know approach it in a different way what did you say something about you not not a few rules yeah yeah you have any rules so one of my rules way I approach most stuff is that like to be prepared man I'd like to know my lines you know some guys you know you ever worked with the guy uses an earwig and doesn't know his line yeah kind of I was jealous when I saw that I know I want to do that be the tree I didn't do that but I'm getting off the track here so I'd like to be prepared so I'm doing this movie Iron Man you know with a Downey who you you work with getting ready and Jon Favreau is directing you know God what a director yeah he is chef did you see sheriff chef's bus with my son oh man so good so he's a marbles first superhero movie and the scripts not right you know and so I said well we got down Ian Fabri will work on we worked on it for a couple of weeks and we got it kind of polished out pretty good and we're going to go to work the next day and we get a call from the marble guys they oh no no this this is none of this is this won't fly with you guys have written here so it turned out that many times I know how many you know maybe 10 12 15 times we Cho for the day's work not knowing what we were going to shoot all the guys are in the studio tapping their foot looking at the watch and we're in my trailer try to figure out our lines man you know you know on the day on the day down he's saying you know you try my part I'll try your part you know Fabro calling it writer friends he knows now here's the scene you know what do you think yeah you know this is the day and it's driving me crazy oh yes you know I said until I made this little adjustment in my head and that adjustment was gel just relax you were in a $200,000,000 student film have fun just really and then I said oh yeah I got my he's got you know Favreau your great great improviser just favor and I loved the movie it was great but it took me a while I was you know pissed because I you know you talk about preparation that effort listeners often takes a lot of effort you know to make them to feel given that falling off like you just a fly on the wall kind of thing yeah but it doesn't always have to be that way like you were saying you shake up your own rules about things you know well I um I kind of came into this industry ass-backwards I kind of found in the right bar early on hadn't done any acting and did some work and came out to Hollywood and try to get in some jobs and then I then I found a lady who started to teach me my rights as an actor in nineteen and five years after done stuff and then working her for 19 years but I early on in my career I had a little run where I was I was getting really tight and getting the third audition but not getting called back and so I have this idea that you know what I need to go back like I did in my first film or I just knew my man and I would show up and just play the circumstances mmm oh yeah and so I said I'm not gonna read the script just tell me the character yeah any situation and I'll show up and I'll just react and do what I would do great yeah so I show up on set we're about to do the scene I said you know since I know my man let me just have a peek at these sides real quick because if it's halfway well-written I'll read it once and I'll go well of course that's what I say I pick it up page 2 page 3 or page mama yeah Manish ha ha ha and I remember saying in my mind I was like I built this trickle of sweat come up on the back my neck and start going down the back and for whatever reason and for me I remember thinking about it man I was like what's enough time to go learn this but not enough time to be inconsiderate to the crew um this is you got the gig I mean I'm on the set dude shoot the scene and I said can you uh can you give me a 12 minutes yeah for whatever reason I thought that's enough time to learn four pages of dialogue in Spanish and not piss off the crew it was not enough time to learn it in Spanish but I remember of that day going whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa Makani no you don't there relax you don't not prepare to relax you go learn it so you can get there and throw why you good coming to me with a movie no no no no bring the fire it's real Mike I know what the first time I heard it struck me like a bucket lightning bolt and I never forgot it I'll go in laughs I get that all the time I hear this don't just believe okay now as long as we're in this realm here I'm going to ask you something and you guys can cut it out if it's too weird of you of you to wallet come out to here cows so one of my oldest friends we go back oh I took out I knew him probably when he was four or five years old he directed you in the film and I've been very close I I was going to actually play your part for a long time and I worked with him and wore on the script and so it's one of the weirdest stories a wonderful story do you know where I'm going with a tiptoe as well what a cast you Gary Oldman jr. Kat and Kate Beckinsale I just got through working with oh my god so you fit you want to tell any story sure and one what a great script wasn't it a while story while the ultimate closet story and what a what a carny Oh being a story about family and love and stuff it was wild big anarchy Matthew right yeah big an artist yeah you know um what I was a biggie and you were gonna be the biggie huh uh-huh I was kidding I was going to be the big your fault for a while we did a whole thing about you know cuz this is like early on in my career you know we're gonna work off my dad being Mike Nelson to see hunt macho and you know behold diving thing and oh yeah we had a work with him on it for years yeah but we work with Billy Barty was Billy Barty in the thing I can't remember this is about you know just we're not really just talking with not people here there's really cameras and stuff so we gotta explain it just a little bit gary oldman plays a door yeah Kevin let you play his brother brothers day the jeans got a gene yeah doesn't want to have a child Wow when or introduced my wife-to-be to my family because my family's a bunch of shorties and I got the gene having a real problem with the fact science of the matter got the gene even if your normal size you can pass the gene on and have another door yeah in there is a very carne drama we're talking about and unfortunately like so many movies I think this is what the case with this one no matter what the movie is good about there's some there's so many places where a movie can fall apart you know whether it's you can have a great experience that God we got a great one here then they choose the wrong take the other thing screws up or the distribution and in that case I think the distribution was they kind of kicked Matt to the side cut it against it yeah it happens a lot yeah and so that didn't seem much light of day but what it's great title to yeah alright so weirdly and Chabot who know um I got here we go music mm-hmm tell me about it in your life obviously it's important oh yeah something's very important to my oh yeah I just literally but also with the work that I get to do they can soundtracks for each character different beats really oh yeah I dig me out of my head yeah great story I tell him Richard Linklater dazed confused first film his on his first Direction to every character was handed everybody a cassette that he had specifically made soundtracks for their character Ted hey man have a listen I think this is what your guy might be listening to yeah is that not a long way to go more big music plays such a big part in my experience acting when you ask that question so many things pop into my head I'm printing them but to to say oh I'll just talk about the Peter we're you know in this movie fearless that we did he would score every day of work so the cast and the crew were all in the same groove you know not cool then he would score the dailies yeah so everybody was on the same freakin yeah yeah everywhere frankly and then you know in Heaven's Gate Kristofferson brought all his a bunch of his music buddies with him you know Ronnie Hawkins t-bone Burnett Stephen Bruton this guy became a dear friend and we used to just jam all the time it's a great way to if I find so many me actors or musicians as well it's a great way of warming up and kind of you know playing together because that's what we're doing when were acting together we're playing it's just another kind of realm and so on that heavens gate I met t-bone Burnett who we became you know fast friends and he did dog he put it was this music supervisor for Lebowski and I got a movie script to play this this guy in crazy heart you know you know guy got it for a couple you know year for a couple of years and I turned it down because there was no music attached to the script was pretty good but the music wasn't there and I said wow that was that was a close one I don't know I don't know about you but I thought my anxiety Rises when you know the more the greater the gift the role is the more you know anxious I had to pull it off you know I gonna be suffocated today know until I just kind of relax so I'm so bummed I've run into t-bone on the street and he says what do you think about crazy heart I said oh I don't know it's pretty good but there's no music he goes oh you know I heard that I said why do you say that are you interested and I say well oh yeah he says well I'll do it if you'll do it I said but there's no music but he says don't worry about that that's easy part and so boom we get into this you know do this wonderful music movie I was so frightened if I could pull that off but worked out and and then that kind of set off this teenage dream that I had what we having a band and I call bone up after the movie and I said hey man I got some more tunes you wanna cut our valleys yeah and it just kind of you know went like that but music it's just you know I like you I make playlists for the different characters and listen to it in the makeup room yeah and all that guy's now well you're dressed like me this is our uniform ain't got no uniform no wear whatever color shirt you choose you just keep choosing mine Ranger Rex a white blue or tan dress shirt sans reads every once in a while we're gonna be dressed the same what's budget on hella high water you'd only about twelve or fifteen twelve twelve fifty was you know you know this guy in father's greatness isn't been great I mean you know the cast you know and not only you know we had Chris Pine so good you know that you know cooked so well been my partner Gil burning ham and then you had all of these side players you know that were really so important because they set up the context of what where we were working world place and they were also great do you find that like in gold with her we had one wonderful cast around us and our gold took us obvious from dusty bars of Reno to jungles of Indonesia to the top floor oh yeah now did you go to you went all those put island for Indonesia Albuquerque for Reno New York or network so we were as much as the look was the place it was the people and the actors that define the place and then we were surrounded by tremendous actor Stephen Gaghan has a great a great eye you know or something moisture to say people want to look important directors yeah I don't know I've got many different answers but I'm the one that I'm going with nouns been sat with me pretty well for the last few years is I want to have a similar sense of humor and a similar sense of what's cool and when I say cool I mean like if if reality's cool and hanging your hat on humanity at every point and tell them the truth on the man and truth in the film is cool well then that's that's cool cool not an attitude you know I mean and then sense of sense of humor I think if I get those two are kind of if I'm the pocket those two then I feel like I can fully trust or whatever is coming at me and I can fully and freely share it and we can just go dance for dementia and then what happens if you don't get that ah and you and you you've already you've come on board cuz you dig the story so much I sometimes I'll go on an island proverbially now I'll just go inside go in and go I'm gonna I'm playing a different beat you know what I'm hopefully in trust that the beat I'm on is going to fit in in the rhythm of this whole album even though I thought it was a rock album and it's not oh you know what I mean and I just gonna play my play my instrument and just kind of keep it simple you know note for note hopefully you're not making the music but I'm much I mean you know I'd much rather be when I talk about the rhythm I'd rather be you talk about entrances and exits earlier how you interview that's the mute that's the rhythm music oh yeah that's what you think I saw I don't want any play note for note I do want to sing the song yeah in a role you know all right um because I love I love directors that just don't the same much you know but just divide that they they create a kind of a relaxation and that everybody can do their best work have the good stuff you know come through you know nothing there's nothing a big deal kind of thing yeah that's kind of what I like you always get what you like man you what so you don't get what your life then you gotta do some test boat judo gotta pass bones in judo yeah yeah

Channel: Variety

Views: 741,367

Rating: 4.930171 out of 5

Keywords: Variety, Variety Studio, matthew mcconaughey, matthew mcconaughey dazed and confused, dazed and confused, jeff bridges, jeff bridges hell or high water, matthew mcconaughey gold, jeff bridges interview, jeff bridges the abiders

Id: pmqtyVE290Y

Length: 31min 48sec (1908 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 30 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/mcclanenr1]

Huge "Hell or High Water" spoiler at 1:25.

[u/BuggsBee]

Love Jeff Bridges but damn he threw me around a lot in this

[u/oh_orpheus]

Too much coolness in one room.

[u/His_Dudeness211]

This is great!!

[u/Boopa1219]

I like to think that they went off after this was shot and smoked a giant joint

[u/jakejames]

Variety did "Actors on Actors" last year, I'm happy they're continuing it -- There are a bunch more of these.

[u/chimnado]

Both fantastic actors. Jeff Bridges is phenomenal in Hell or High Water.

[u/PresidentBartlet2016]

I felt like they were both sorta acting threw that whole thing. I had to stop when Bridges told the horse rancher story that was just to much.