By Summer Rogers
Daily Titan Staff Writer

Legendary actor Jeff Bridges, of The Big Lebowski cult-like fame, is dressed simply in a brown jacket, a gray shirt and jeans. He’s friendly, all smiles and throws in some “dudes” and “man” as he speaks (one can’t help but think of him as an older version of The Dude), about his new movie, Crazy Heart.

In the film, Bridges plays a washed up 57-year-old country singer trying to make ends meet by playing hole-in-the wall bars in small towns across America.

To make the character of country singer Bad Blake truly come to life, Bridges had to utilize his vocals, and sang spectacularly.

So what did it take for Bridges to get on board with the script, to not only act, but to also sing in a film?

“When I first got the script, there wasn’t any music attached to it. So I took a pass on it and then when I found out from my good buddy, (singer) T-Bone (Burnett), that he was going to do it if I was going to do it, then that filled in that empty, missing piece. So when he got involved, I knew the music was going to be top-notch and that got me to the party real quick,” Bridges said as he ran his fingers through his gray hair, which was still long from the movie.

The character Bad Blake acts as a mentor to young and up-and-coming country singer, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell). Their journeys seemed on the same path until they came to a fork in the road; Bad went down the path of sticking to the old way of country music and playing for the love of playing and Tommy went down the path of modern pop-country music, merging into the mainstream and playing to sold out stadiums.

Bridges seemed to admire Farrell as he spoke of their working relationship and their time together on screen.

“We hit it off right off the bat and we kind of approached the work in a similar away and got along great and it was a joy working with him. I admired him. The first time I saw him was in Tigerland (2000) and I’ve been keeping up with his career. I loved In Bruges (2008), I thought that was a great movie. And then singing together, that’s a great way to strike up a relationship with your fellow actors and harmonize and stuff,” Bridges explained.

For his next project, Bridges will be returning to a character he played 27 years ago in TRON (1982) in the upcoming sequel, Tron Legacy, due for release in 2010.

“It was great, getting back with my old buddy (director) Steven Lisberger and (actor) Bruce Boxleitner. I guess the same thing appealed to me about the sequel as appealed to me about the original; this idea of…there’s kind of a kid’s aspect to what I do, pretending and all that stuff. I use to love to pretend when I was a kid and here’s a movie where I got to play a guy who gets sucked into a computer, and I thought, ‘Oohh, yeah.’ All the technology that we’re using on (Tron Legacy) makes the old one look like an old black and white TV show. It’s amazing what they got going on there. I can’t wait to see it all pasted together,” Bridges said with a grin.

Oscar winner Robert Duvall played duel roles as both an actor and producer for Crazy Heart, and Scott Cooper cut his teeth on this project as a first-time director. Duvall appears relaxed in a track jacket, a black shirt and black jeans. Cooper looks a bit more polished in a black blazer jacket, a white button-down shirt, a black tie and blue jeans.

Burnett, a singer as well as a music producer, who was heavily involved in the project, called Duvall the “Patron Saint” of the film; Cooper calls him the godfather of the film and Duvall modestly declines both compliments.

“No, no, don’t say that, (Cooper’s) just saying that, he’s a good politician. Nah, I helped. It was my company, Butchers Run Films; it was Robert Carliner, Judy Cairo, and Scott Cooper together as a unit, with ICM and Jeff Berg going after the money, they were like the driving force. I was kind of behind going, ‘Ok, Ok, that’s fine this and that, this and that.’ I reached out to Jeff (Bridges). I knew Jeff (and) sent him a letter. They contacted T-Bone; it took a year to get him. So it took a while to get all this together, but getting the money is very difficult, but then they got the money, then I helped whenever I could. I played a part in it, and also helped a lot with the casting,” Duvall said, his blue eyes shining brightly as he spoke.

In 1983, Duvall played a down-and-out country singer, similar to Bad Blake, in the film Tender Mercies. Duvall elaborates on the differences between the two characters.

“Horton Foote, great writer, (wrote) an original script for (Tender Mercies). (Crazy Heart) is from a book that (Foote) made a very good adaptation of. (These characters are) two different guys, two different perceptions, but similar demons, but like I said before, my character in [Tender Mercies] had a support group in his wife, his son and a baptism. Here, Jeff’s character has nothing, he blows everything. The woman (Jean), (his) son, because he risks [Jean’s son’s] life, she dumps him, which she should. A lot of women would not do that, they’d continue and that’s self-destructive staying with a guy like that. His only friend is my character in the movie, so he didn’t have a support group under him, like I had in Tender Mercies, but similar demons,” Duvall explained.

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays single mother Jean Caddock and serves as the love interest and muse of Bad Blake.

She is dressed in a loose, cream-colored dress that echoes fashion of the 1920s and makes her red lips and blue eyes pop, she also dons black tights and black knee-high boots.

She smiles sweetly and genuinely, despite being in a room full of journalists, and hesitates slightly before discussing her personal life and the strong hunger for acting that Crazy Heart has fulfilled for her.

This is the first film she has spent a great deal of time on since giving birth to her daughter, Ramona, three years ago. She only worked 15 days over eight months in her role as Rachel Dawes for the blockbuster, The Dark Knight (2008) and she worked even less (3 days) on her role in Away We Go (2009).

“My daughter was almost two when I made (this) movie and I kind of got to this place of… and I felt like, ‘I am also me, you know, I am also an actress.’ I had this kind of really strong hunger to express something that I hadn’t had for awhile. I had worked a little when she was a tiny baby, I did Batman. I did Away We Go and that got a little of that energy, I was kind of like, ‘I have something to say!’ But then it was over like that. And Crazy Heart got almost all of it,” Gyllenhaal said.

Since becoming a mother, Gyllenhaal feels she has changed, not only as a person, but also as an actress.

“Everything in my life has changed absolutely and completely as a mother. In some ways, I try not to talk too much about my family and press, but the making of this movie was so connected to kind of moving out a certain phase of motherhood for me. I felt, I am a different actress now that I’ve had a child. I felt so much more vulnerable in this part than I ever have in anything and quieter. The other things I’ve done that I’ve been really proud of, I’ve kind of bulldozed through, I’ve played these fierce, wild people and she’s quieter, and that’s so much more vulnerable,” Gyllenhaal explained.

Gyllenhaal discussed how she creates her characters and how every film and every character is different in her creative process. Sometimes she truly doesn’t know how she fleshes out a character and other times she feels the script and the other actors do so well, her character is created organically, almost effortlessly.

“Honestly, this is the thing; a lot of people ask me about this scene or that scene or how I made her or whatever and I don’t know. I usually don’t, but the times when I know exactly how I crafted something is usually when the script isn’t great and there aren’t great actors and I have to fill in all the blanks myself. When the script can buoy me, when a scene can be about 15 different things and can end on 15 different notes every time you play it, it’s best not to make a bunch of choices. When the other actor is totally alive and living the scenes with you, I mean, I do my own work, you know, I scribble all over my script, I do work, but I don’t know what it is, I don’t know exactly what it is and when the scene is working and the other actor is great, I usually just kind of walk in to see what happens,” Gyllenhaal said of her acting process.

Crazy Heart opens in theaters Dec. 16.