Beverly Hills, CA — A show called “Old Man” that begins with the pollakiuria scene will say a few things about mortality, as it really is. (Yes, it’s a thriller. Don’t worry, it will be more exciting.)
Jeff Bridges, 72, who plays the title character Dan Chase, a fraudulent former CIA spy with two very loyal dogs and a gift of close-range killing, has some difficult existential gigs. I knew it could raise a problem.He also knew that many of its bone-breaking combat scenes were harder to perform at his age than what he did. The 1972 adult-style western drama “Bad Company”.
He didn’t know he would play many of these battle scenes with a lot of cancer left in his gut.
“What makes me laugh, I’m doing all the fighting in this scene, and I have a 9×12 inch tumor on my body and I’m taking those punches.” With his co-leader, John Lithgow, he said in a tripartite interview last week. “But it didn’t hurt. I didn’t feel it because it didn’t hurt.”
In this context, “laughing” seemed to be an interesting word for both the famous warm man in an aloha shirt and hoka sandals, as well as the man who played. Man.. However, after that, his outlook on life became more and more Zen as the years went by. In other words, as he says, he was “Buddhist leaning.” When he and Lisgow, 76, were talking about the “old man,” the conversation was rarely enjoyable, even if it turned into a heavier problem.
Created by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levin, the gloomy cat and mouse drama “Old Man” will debut on Thursday in FX, based on Thomas Perry’s novel. It has been Bridges’ first regular television role since childhood when he starred in programs such as the adventure series “Sea Hunt” starring his father Lloyd. It’s also the first collaboration between him and Lisgow, despite decades of extensive award-winning careers. (The bridge has Oscar, Lisgow, Emmy, and Tony Awards.)
The “old man” was one of the ways to unite. With bright eyes, Lisgow nodded, as Bridges explained, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma months after the pandemic stopped production and was infected with Covid-19 during chemotherapy.
The cancer was in remission, but Covid almost killed him — for five weeks in the intensive care unit, he said, “I made the cancer look like nothing.”
They were ecstatic when Bridges and Lisgow finally began to delve into the work together. Shutdown arrived after they shot four of the seven episodes, and Lisgow, who plays Chase tracker and former colleague FBI man Harold Harper, shares the scene with Bridge until late season. plug.
By the time they shot it, two years had passed since production began. The shutdown is over, but it took months more for the bridge to return to its literal form of combat.
“In a sense, our business relationships have evolved in the same way as the series,” Lisgow said. “It was such a reward, and it was worth the wait.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only complication. A few days before meeting a sunny day here at the Four Seasons Hotel, a person near Lisgow tested positive for Covid. He has done some negative tests since then, but the protocol tells him and Bridges not to share a room.
They did it well. For an hour, with the graceful qualities of a perfect dinner host, I and Lisgow were warm, curious, modest, but not shy. His half of their photography is over. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
This is the first time I’ve worked with them. Did you have a relationship before this?
John Lithgow I don’t know if Jeff remembers, but I met very easily at one of the award season luncheons on the red carpet. Do you remember that? But I felt like I knew him. I’ve met him in the movies since he was 19 years old.
Jeff Bridges And what a gas it was to work with this fellow man. You had a great time, John?
Jeff, what was it about this story that finally attracted you to modern television?
bridge My dad was doing 6 or 7 TV series, so I was a little worried because I was pulling my legs and watching TV and I saw him struggling. But I read the script. I said, “Oh, that’s good.” I read the book and said, “Oh!” And I said: “Who is our team? Who are the writers? I have to meet those people.” , The cast began to fall together and I was excited and said, “Oh, I’m riding.”
John, you did a lot of prestige television like “Dexter”, “The Crown” and so on. Did you have any advice for Jeff?
Lisgo Oh, good god, no. The idea of giving advice to Jeff Bridges is very ridiculous. So I was full of stories. Jeff and I had a great rehearsal day. Then I went to shoot two separate storylines, but I could hardly see each other. I worked with Alia Shawkat on the storyline, and he worked with her Amy Brenneman.
They both had a great time, but they were both restless and wanted to be together. Chase and Harper have a very fascinating and complex story. We were two tigers waiting for the lean meat.
Jeff, How was it back to production after spending such a tough few years?
bridge It all seems like a weird dream, as I thought I’d go back to work and die for quite some time. I was really in surrender mode and thought, “Shift gear here, buddy, that’s it.” And now, when I blink, I get back to work with the same actors and crew, and it feels like a long weekend. The quality of that dream, I still have it in my life. It’s not necessarily a nightmare. There were some wonderful things that could only be discovered at such times.
Those battle scenes are cruel. Did you first need to restore yourself or did you adapt your approach?
bridge No, we did some fights and things we had to do, and that was important to the story. I had trainer Zack Warmers, a physiotherapist for my illness, and I met him three times a week. We had these little goals. The first said, “Well, let’s see how long you can stand.” And I stood for 45 seconds, then that’s it.
My big goal was to walk my daughter down the aisle without oxygen. After doing that and dancing with her, she said, “Then, can I get back to her job?” I didn’t think I could really do it.
Do you think the show is saying something special about American foreign policy right now?
Lisgo My god, yes. The exciting event for the entire series is that it happened in secret, with the involvement of the United States, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan 30 years ago. When we started this, no one dreamed of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was like “History has caught up”. This doesn’t shed any light on modern events, but it resonates.
Nevertheless, what is even more compelling is the personal pain of these characters. It’s this combination of great global anxiety and very personal conflict, and that’s how we all live our lives these days.
bridge For me, it’s about personal, personal, and global consequences. What you do is important when all chickens return to the roost.
You are both in your 70s. I’m young, but being faced with big questions about aging and mortality in the workplace every day sounds like torture. But you guys ran straight.
Lisgo Well, we are both old, and we can’t avoid it. And for me, these are the most interesting years of my acting career. That is, we are often cast — we are not pretending to be younger than ourselves. For me, we are very lucky actors, we are still feasible and mediocre, and there are still projects so complex and rewarding. They are about death.
bridge There may be, and I don’t know what to call it — adolescents in old age? What we are experiencing, what we have never experienced. It’s kind of weird adolescent, getting older and having a different view of things.
Do you think working on these existential themes as an artist will help you handle them as people?
Lisgo We live with these subjects. At the most basic level, you can’t learn the lines as you did when you did “3rd Rock from the Sun”. I was incredibly capricious with it. And now I have a moment in the middle of the scene and I’m worried about what the next line is. That has never happened to me.
Everyone knows that when you reach our age, you are trying to remember someone’s name. One morning, I turned over for two hours trying to remember the name Max von Sydow. These things happen, and of course it fills you with horror: “Oh my god, I’m losing my marbles.” But you have to admit that it happens. ..
bridge And it’s a fresh new sensation. It’s like saying, “I asked that girl!” When I was adolescent. And this is our version. I think one way to deal with it is to talk about it with other brothers, get some insight and say, “Oh, I’m not alone.”
Lisgo Yes, we are survivors.There is a reason Shakespeare is calling it “The second childishness.”
bridge Oh, let’s go!
Lisgo You just have to accept this, admit it, and make sure it doesn’t make you happy and unhappy.
If you need to tackle these questions anyway, it should be great to have a career where it is your job to engage them at a meaningful level.
bridge God, that’s really a blessing.
Lisgo And think about what it means to make such friends. I am 76 years old It’s great to come across this wonderful friendship at our age.