'Old Man' inspires Jeff Bridges to revisit 'Starman,' 'Lebowski' roles

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Jeff Bridges said returning for Season 2 of his FX series The Old Man , premiering Thursday at 10 p.m. EDT on FX and streaming on Hulu, reminded him of movie characters he'd enjoy playing again.

Bridges, 74, plays retired CIA agent Dan Chase, who goes back into action to rescue his daughter (Alia Shawkat), with the help of FBI Assistant Director Harold Harper (John Lithgow).

The Oscar-winner for Crazy Heart and star of films from The Last Picture Show to Hell or High Water said he has two roles he'd be interested in following up.

" Starman, because Karen Allen is holding my baby," Bridges told reporters of the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, Calif. "The same goes for The Dude in The Big Lebowski ."

In Starman , Bridges played an alien who leaves a widow (Allen) pregnant before returning home. In The Big Lebowski , a femme fatale (Julianne Moore) sleeps with his character to conceive a baby.

Bridges did get to do sequels to Last Picture and Tron . Texasville came out in 1990 and Tron: Legacy came out in 2010 .

He will play video game creator Kevin Flynn a third time in the upcoming Tron: Ares , but says Jared Leto is taking over the sci-fi franchise as the lead.

"It's so wild with Jared Leto, who's the star of the show," Bridges said. "I brought my original helmet from Tron , which is kind of a reworked hockey helmet, and I presented it to him, passing the torch."

Bridges said even playing Chase in a second season is different from a movie sequel. A movie, be it original or a sequel, is finite, he said..

"Making a movie, you get a beginning, middle and an end," Bridges said. "In a show like this, I don't know what's going to happen, just like you guys."

Bridges referenced another movie role when describing how he prepares for the role of Chase, saying that playing the aging agent is as natural as playing sibling pianists with his real-life brother, Beau, in The Fabulous Baker Boys.

"If it was another actor, I'd say, 'How do we show that we're brothers here?'" Bridges said. "Because we are brothers, we could just relax about it, and the same goes for this show. I'm an old man, I don't have to play it."

Bridges said former CIA operative Christopher Huttleston is the show's consultant and helps him with the aspects of the show related to the agency.

Coming from a show business family, Bridges said he has observed the evolution of television. His father, Lloyd, starred on shows like Sea Hunt and The Lloyd Bridges Show , and Bridges recalls it being difficult for his father.

"I saw how he struggled with the time that was not as much time as he needed and the quality wasn't the same as making movies, but that's all changed now," Bridges said. "I don't see any difference, except you don't know where the story's going, which is fascinating."

The Old Man also coincided with a real-life health scare. When Season 1 paused in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors discovered a mass in Bridges' stomach and he underwent chemotherapy .

"In the first season, when I was doing these fight scenes, I had a 9-inch-by-12-inch tumor in my body, in my stomach, that didn't hurt at all," Bridges said. "I'm feeling great now."

Bridges' recovery was further complicated by contracting COVID-19 . He said he mounted his recovery step by step, first building his stamina to stand up and walk.

The 2022 wedding of Bridges' daughter, Hailey, provided further motivation.

"I said, 'Oh, do you think I could walk her down the aisle?'" Bridges said. "I danced with her and quickly took my seat and got my oxygen in."

Bridges worked privately with a trainer and credited The Old Man stunt coordinators, Tim Connolly and Thomas DuPont, with helping with the show's physical demands.

"There's still kind of a kid quality in me," Bridges said, describing the joy he gets "on the horse and stuff and how you just tumble and have fun."