Jeff Bridges Did A Reddit AMA For ‘The Giver’ And Was Awesome

So all the kids are into this site called Reddit, apparently the front page of the Internet. Jeff Bridges, aka The Dude, went on and did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) in support of the movie The Giver. I have seen The Giver and loved it. One of the top five films of the year so far for me, without a doubt. I’ll be posting more about it soon.

In the meantime, here’s the wisdom and wit and sandwich choices from Bridges AMA.

Bridges on a Marriage that Lasts:

[–]bidet_mate I read that you’ve been married to your wife since 1977. To what do you attribute the success of your marriage in an industry notoriously hard on relationships?

[RealJeffBridges] Well, that’s certainly true. This industry is tough on relationships. I’ve always thought that my wife should have a credit up alongside mine, because I couldn’t do what I do without her support. And like the questioner asked, or said, we’ve been married since 1977, we knew each other for 2 years before that, so she’s been able to do all these films with me and we’ve managed to get through them all together. The toughest thing about making movies is being apart from your family. One of the things I try my best to do is call my wife every day, to keep up to speed with what’s going on in her life. And tell her what’s going on with mine. Often when you’re apart from your loved one like that for so long, your connection kind of atrophies unless you keep engaged, even if it’s small everyday kind of stuff. But another aspect of keeping a marriage together, I think it’s important to – you’ll think I’m silly – but to love each other, which begs the question: “what is love?” Words that come to mind are openness, understanding, gentleness, kindness, and kind of working on those things, because everyone has a light and a dark side, I think, selfish aspects, and to kind of recognize those in each other and realize that we are going to have our own particular story at any given time, and those stories, they might not be the ultimate truth but they are certainly true for each of us, so to understand that we are each going through our particular version of reality, to respect that, and to nurture being in love, you know? To nurture that.

[–]derekandroidToday is going much better than I had originally anticipated. I did not expect to hear Jeff Bridges define what love is.

Bridges Gives Advice

[–]Major_halil

Holly shit, the Dude.

If you could give us all some wisdom, what would it be?

[RealJeffBridges] Open at your own speed, but open.

Dig what’s happening to you.

By “dig” I mean get into it. There are lessons for you there. And when it gets uncomfortable, that’s an important time to open and dig. There’s treasure in them thar hills.

[–]Billobatch

That’s just like, your opinion man.

Bridges on Snacking

[–]SirPeterODactylWhat is your favourite kind of sandwich?

[RealJeffBridges] Is lox & bagels a sandwich? I like lox & bagels, I like kind of building that, the ritual of getting your bagel, I like my bagels toasted, almost burned, and then you put a medium spread of cream cheese, and then I like onions quite a bit, so I will put quite a few onions on it. I’m not really into tomato, but once in a while I will surprise myself with tomatoes. And then I’ll put the lox on there, and then put some peppers, and then I will cut it in half and go to town. That’s the first thing that popped into my head when you said sandwich, but it’s hard to beat a good cheeseburger. As I’m thinking about it, and then the eastern thing is cool too, falafels and pita pockets, those are awful great too. I like sandwiches, now I’m thinking about all kinds of sandwiches.

You’ve got me salivating!

Bridges on His Father while Playing The Giver

[–]jessicaniskar How do you feel about playing the Giver when the role was initially intended to be played by your father? Does the role and/or story have a bigger impact on you?

[RealJeffBridges] Well, I often use my father in my acting quite a bit. I kind of conjure him up and invite him to come into my being, and so I’m sure he was with me a bunch when we were shooting the Giver, or I was with him, however you want to put it. Like I was saying, so many of my roles, I think of my dad – but this one was a little different for me. I think about my dad all the time when I am working, and maybe with this role it was a little bit more.