The return of Jeff Bridges after overcoming lymphoma and Covid: "I will continue acting until I can no longer"

In reality,

(Los Angeles, 1949) has nothing left in this life to do.

His filmography is counted in more than 90 projects, from comedy to drama through noir, action or science fiction.

There isn't a genre he hasn't tried.

Add to your record an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Donostia Award, one from the Screen Actors Guild and a good handful of nominations.

As if the awards mattered to him.

And our memory can take us back to his Otis Blake in

, his Scott Hayden in

or his Duane Jackson in

.

There is a choice over five decades, but there is no one like Jeff Lebowski.

The "sooner or later, you'll have to face the fact that you're an idiot."

Always

.

And despite all that, he's back.

At 72 years old and after two years unemployed due to lymphoma and a coronavirus that were about to end his life sooner than expected.

But here he is, back in the lead, in

, the new action series that Disney+ premieres on Wednesday.

Become a former CIA agent who lives surrounded by shootings, threats and desperate escapes.

Calm down, what is said calm down, does not seem to be the return for someone who has faced death.

"

."

More or less like in life.

After the two years that have passed, the long stay in the hospital, and now at 72 years old, how do you face a project with that intensity directly on your return to filming? Well, it's more or less like a normal filming and you have to practice what you do in each scene.

In this case, it was mostly fights, which I had to rehearse a lot because I wanted to make them as if they were real life, surprising and interesting.

I worked with a wonderful trainer, Eric Goodman, who has a method that he has perfected over the years.

We worked on every little move he had to make, we trained it and we executed it.

And what is it like to find yourself standing before a camera on a film set again so long after?

Because you said yourself that you had been close to dying between lymphoma and Covid. It's wonderful to be back.

That was like a long weekend, I came back and everything was the same: the same actors and the same crew.

That made it all very dreamlike, I still find it hard to believe that he was so sick.

I feel great and it's wonderful to be here again because for a long time I didn't know if I was going to be able to come back.

I set small goals for myself and I am especially glad that I was able to achieve the goal of finishing what we had started with this series.

That's what makes me feel the best. With all that process you've been through, haven't you ever thought that maybe it was time to retire?

Well I do not know.

I often think about retiring, but I have a friend, Bernie Glassman, who once gave me the definition of retiring.

It's simply pulling over to the side of the road to put a different set of wheels on an SUV's tires.

I often withdraw in that sense because I am interested in music, painting, ceramics and other kinds of things.

But deep down I imagine that I will always continue acting until I can no longer.

Judging by his vitality, restless in his chair as he answers every question and hyperactive in his role as a CIA agent fleeing death and old age he still has a while.

Because

wraps in fast-paced action a mysterious plot to discover who Dan Chase really is.

That

, unable to fall asleep for several hours, but still witty enough for a sharp sarcastic comment?

Or a man still prepared for hand-to-hand combat whose physical abilities and ingenuity have not diminished over the years?

The same question could be asked about Jeff Bridges.

What is hidden under that mane and that beard already whitened by gray hair and years?

A veteran actor facing the end of his career?

Or a performer who refuses to leave

De him?

The answer may be both.

As is also the fact that the protagonist does not want to give it.

That you simply have to discover it.

With such an extensive and impressive film and television career.

Do you ever look back?

What do you feel?

Well, I've been very fortunate to work with some amazing people and in the movies that I've done it on.

When I watch my movies, it's almost like watching my kids.

You know, they're like my kids because I feel like they're home movies.

It is difficult for me to forget about them, because I remember each of the experiences that I lived when making them.

I have been very lucky to work with so many wonderful artists.

I think that, having worked with all those people, is the favorite aspect of acting and of my entire career. In the end, that completely reconnects with

, what we have done in the past conditioning our present.

How true is that in real life? Without a doubt, that is one of the essential themes in our series, the consequences.

All our actions always have consequences.

And my character, Dan Chase, who has been a CIA agent, did some things 35 years ago and now he has to deal with the consequences that come from them.

That is one of the themes of this project and, of course, it is very important in our lives.

What we do matters because all of that is going to have consequences. Consider that now you have to get into Dan Chase's skin.

How would he face that life knowing that they are persecuting him?

Well, it is precisely from there that I begin to prepare myself.

I read the scripts and that is already telling me a lot about the character I'm going to play.

And then I try to think: Well, how would I act in that situation?

I even start rehearsing some scenes with that in mind.

But also if you're lucky enough to have a real guy, a person who's on the team with you, who really experienced all the things your character is going through, that's fantastic.

In

, we had a partner named Christopher Huddleston, who was a CIA agent, and he helped me a lot with what it was really like to be in that situation.

So what you do is you use yourself, the real guy that's with you, and the script.

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