Jeff Bridges Interview For ‘True Grit’ – Out Now On Blu-Ray & DVD

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross’s (Hailee Steinfeld) father has been shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), and she is determined to bring him to justice. Enlisting the help of a trigger-happy, drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), she sets out with him – over his objections – to hunt down Chaney. Her father’s blood demands that she pursue the criminal into Indian territory and find him before a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf (Matt Damon) catches him and brings him back to Texas for the murder of another man. Check out what Jeff Bridges had to say about the film below. ‘True Grit’ was released on Blu-Ray and DVD earlier this week in the UK.

You got to work with the Coen brothers again on this.

Jeff Bridges: I love working with the Coen Brothers, they’re the tops of their field. They’re just wonderful filmmakers, they make it look so easy. They’ve assembled a great group of artists they work with all the time. Roger Deakins, the cinematographer of ‘True Grit’ also shot ‘The Big Lebowski’ and a dozen other films the Coen Brothers have done. The heads of each of the departments are all guys they’ve worked with before, who’s work they admire and respect, they bring such detail to the films. That creates a relaxed atmosphere on the set, everybody knows each other, it’s great. These guys, they’re just the best in the biz (laughs). They’re very laid back, they encourage you to put in all the input you wanna give, they’re very inclusive that way. Whenever they’re throwing a party I wanna go man, they’re great.

How did you get involved with the film?

Jeff Bridges: I remember when the Coen Brothers first came to me about the idea of making ‘True Grit.’ I said, “Gee, didn’t they make that movie? Wasn’t that a big hit?” They said, “Yeah.” So I said, “Why do you wanna make that again?” They replied, “We’re really not remaking the film, we’re making a version of the book by Charles Portis.” So I then said, “Well I’m not familiar with that book, I’ll have to read that.” I did and I saw what they were talking about, it seemed like a perfect book for the Coen Brothers to make into a movie.

You get to play such a memorable character, from his clothes, his banter with Mattie….

Jeff Bridges: Yeah, I play Rooster Cogburn, who’s a US Marshall, he’s got a foot in each side of the law, for and against the law. I dunno if he’s a bit of an outlaw, but he has been in the past. Rooster certainly has True Grit in spades. One of the most important aspects about developing a character for me is the wardrobe, the props, the set as well, where the guy lives, it tells you all kinds of things about your character, so as far as the costumes go I was given a lot of different books to look at the different styles the guy might wear, figuring out the right hat, the right patch for the eye, the right boots, that stuff is always important.

One of the wonderful things about this film is that it’s based on a novel, whenever that is the case I’m very happy, because it gives you more information about the character you’re playing, also in this case great dialogue. One of the things that I enjoyed, and this was in the book, most of the characters in Westerns like Rooster are the strong silent type, very Clint-like, and this guy was the antithesis of that. He was almost a boor, telling you all about his life and his stories, so much so that you got the feeling that he didn’t get to do that too much and here he has this captive audience of this young girl. That was kind of intriguing and fun to explore.

You get to work with a great cast in this film, what was it like working with Matt and Hailee?

Jeff Bridges: Matt Damon, who plays La Boeuf, a Texas Ranger, he’s so terrific (laughs), he brings a lot of comedy to it. He rides his horse beautifully, he had a great character going. He’s a wonderful guy to just spend time with, and his acting was just superb, whenever you work with an actor like that who brings so much, it improves your own game and everybody else’s, it was a joy to work with him.

The movie really centres around Hailee’s characters experiences. We really lucked out with Hailee Steinfeld, she’s just so wonderful. I was concerned at the beginning because this was her first movie, but then after the first day of filming I thought, god, didn’t we really luck out with her, she’s just wonderful. All these guys, Barry Pepper, Josh Brolin, wonderful actors, just wonderful actors. Like I was saying, whenever you get great players like that, everyone’s game just rises up.