Excogitating Genius, With Brandon Brendel

Wow! Inside the Actors Studio is so much more enjoyable haveing recently watched all of the movies that they talk about. I felt in on the conversation, and the interview impacted me that much more.

Just the other night I told my acting coach, Jeffrey Marcus, that I thought Jeff Bridges' best performance so far was in American Heart. It was interesting to see that James Lipton agrees. If I hadn't embarked on this excogitating of genius I would most likely still have never seen that movie.

Mr. Bridges unveils a lot about his craft of acting. Whether it be doing improvs to build character relationships or empowering objects/wardrobe with the power to affect you in a certain way.

He also talks about how his parents were his teachers and that they studied with Michael Chekhov. I recently read Mr. Chekhov's book, To the Actor, and I found it fascinating and powerful. I really need to return to that book and start implementing the techniques into my own work.


Jeff Bridges Inside the Actors Studio 1/3 by HelensPage


Jeff Bridges Inside the Actors Studio 2/3 by HelensPage


Jeff Bridges Inside the Actors Studio 3/3 by HelensPage

Starring: Bob Dylan, John Goodman, and Jessica Lange
Directed by Larry Charles

I really liked this movie. Even though I couldn't tell you what it is about. I could tell you what happened, but not what it all means. After watching "The Making of" featurette, it seems like a lot of the cast felt the same way. But that's okay, because everything about this movie is cool. Bob Dylan is cool, the cast is cool, the director is cool, the characters are cool, the music is cool, the cinematography is cool, all of it.

This was actually directed by the same guy who a few years later directed Borat and Bruno. And it stars Bob Dylan, who I thought did a mighty fine job, considering that he's not an actor and all. He did have an amazing supporting cast. I read that everyone was taking pay cuts just so they could be in a movie with Dylan. This is definitely one that I'll have to watch again one day.

As for JB's performance, I saw a lot of "The Dude" in it. It was almost as if The Dude was forced into work and begrudgingly carried out his duties as a reporter. And I think that's just what his character wanted, just to do his job and to get it over with. But Luke Wilson's character kept getting in the way. I feel like there was something deeper to his character that I may have missed. But, like I said, a lot about this movie was a mystery. A "cool" mystery.

Narrated by Jeff Bridges
Directed by Bruce Neibaur

Jeff Bridges and National Geographic take us on a journey from St. Louis to the Pacific ocean. It is the journey that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took two-hundred years ago. While the cinematography was beautiful and it is an interesting story of American history, I felt that this was basically a summary of the events. It could have been a lot more in depth, but I guess they were constrained to fitting it all into a certain amount of time.

JB must have gone on a big documentary kick in 2002. There were no movies released that he starred in, but he narrated two documentaries. And he's got a great narrating voice. I also think that I've come to the conclusion that it was not JB narrating Raising the Mammoth. Still no official statement concerning that issue from @TheJeffBridges.

Narrated by Jeff Bridges
Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe

Jeff Bridges' voice guides us though the making of...well, the attempted making of the movie, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, directed by Terry Gilliam. This was a very interesting and entertaining documentary. A look behind the scenes in Hollywood when things go wrong.

I can't say that I enjoyed seeing Terry Gilliam fail in completing his dream movie. But it is refreshing to know, when sometimes this business seems so hard, that it's also sometimes tough for the big wigs who have already "made it". But you have to keep pushing on! I'm off to direct my own movie!

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
Directed by Ian Softley

I really liked this movie. It is listed under the sci-fi genre, I think it is more of a psychological mystery. But I guess that it could be considered either, depending on the conclusions that you come to at the end of the movie. Jeff Bridges plays a psychiatrist who is treating a man who calls himself Prot and clams to be an alien from the planet K-PAX. JB tries to find out who this mystery man is and where he really came from, because surely he didn't come from outer space...or did he?

A big part of Jeff Bridges performances is his research. In preparation for this part, he went to different institutions and met with multiple psychiatrists. He even had a doctor on set as a technical adviser. He wanted his performance to be as close to how a real psychiatrist behaves as possible. JB says that a psychiatrist considers themself a detective, investigating what is going on inside of a person's mind and trying to solve the mystery.



Here is a great interview conducted by Charlie Rose. Jeff Bridges talks about his performance in K-PAX and the craft of acting. It's actually a great recap of his career up to this point:
Part 1(46 minutes in):


Part 2:


JB talks K-PAX with Jon Stewart:

This movie had potential, but it just didn't come together for me. It's supposed to be a crime mob thriller. It just seemed to drag along. And we're stuck in a van for most of it. It had a few interesting moments. It just seemed like they threw way too many story lines in and it got a bit confusing. In the end, I felt like not much had happened. A few people got killed.

From the synopsis, I thought Jeff Bridges was going to be playing a mobster type and I was excited to see that. But no, he's just playing a normal dad type...with some skeletons in his closet. Throughout the whole movie, JB just looks miserable and like he's wondering how he got himself into this mess. That could be because his character is tied up with a gun in his face the whole time. While not my favorite performance, probably do to him being stuck in the same situation the whole time with not much to do, it did have it's moments. I really wish he would have been playing a "Godfather"-like mobster. That would have been interesting.

This was a very intriguing political thriller. Vice President nominee, Laine Hanson, gets caught up in her own Weinergate (or should I say Vaginagate?) and her morality is questioned in a big hearing. Repubs and Dems hate on each other, yada yada yada.

I loved Jeff Bridges as the POTUS. He just had a certain gravitas and underlying fire. JB's President really loves his power, and loves to use it. As was shown when he repeatedly ordered all kinds of random food from the butler just to show people that he can, because he is the President.

From an acting standpoint, I observed JB's character as wanting...I want to say power, but he is the President of the United States. You don't get much more powerful than that. So maybe he wants assurance of that power, hence all of the food ordering. And the main point of the movie, him attempting to appoint a female VP, something that had never been done before. His power would definitely be assured if he could do something that no President in history had every done.

Jeff Bridges was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting role with this fine performance.