‘Emotions? They’re no big thing, man!’ Jeff Bridges on satisfaction, silver linings – and his secret life in music

As his lost 70s songs emerge, the Oscar-winner and musician explains how the magic of art keeps him upbeat even after losing homes to LA fires

A rainy day in Santa Barbara, and Jeff Bridges sits in his garage, wondering where his favourite spectacles have got to. We are in the middle of a rangy conversation on a video call, meandering our way from Bob Dylan to the anthropomorphism of bees, via Crazy Heart, Cutter’s Way and The Big Lebowski. There are sidetracks and double-backs and loose threads. Intermittently, an unseen assistant hands the actor pairs of glasses seemingly identical to the ones he is already wearing. Bridges, in a soft brown cardigan, inspects each pair and dismisses them. “Where was I?” he asks.

The garage here serves as Bridges’ jam space and ceramics workshop. He has drums set up for his grandson, and a picture of Captain Beefheart on the wall. Since December, when his FX series The Old Man was cancelled, the 75-year-old has been spending more of his days here. “Now I’ve got some time for letting some other things bubble up and I’m really happy about that,” he says. “A lot of music, some more art stuff.”

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