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Credit: Far Out \/ Columbia Pictures<\/p>\n
Thu 3 September 2026 19:45, UK <\/p>\n
For those of us looking up at the big silver screen, it can be easy to think that those who adorn the glittering example of Hollywood<\/a>\u2019s finest are cool, confident and charismatic in every walk of life. Of course, that is far from the truth. <\/p>\n Like everybody else, actors, directors and everybody else involved in getting a movie up on the big screen are just as riddled with feelings of inadequacy as anybody else. They too feel like small and insignificant specks in the world when they first approach a new project or an established company. Just like the first day of school, the first day on is a mess of jangled nerves, shrinking egos and worried faces.\u00a0<\/p>\n That feeling doesn\u2019t reside only in the more wilting members of the Hollywood glitterati, either. Jeff Bridges, who most would describe as, at the very least, a laidback individual, was left paralysed by fear when he first took on a role in the big leagues. Speaking with Psychotronic Cinema<\/a> about working with Michael Cimino, Bridges revealed how frightfully nervous he was starting out as a fledgling actor. <\/p>\n \u201cIn 1973, Mike Cimino cast me as Lightfoot in the first movie he directed \u2013 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. I was just starting out, just a kid. I remember being up in Montana, wondering why he had picked me,\u201d revealed the now veteran actor. It\u2019s a feeling most of us can align with. Getting a great opportunity is one thing, but feeling like you deserve is another altogether. <\/p>\n Bridges struggled to get to grips <\/a>with even the gentle notion that he was good enough for the part: \u201cI didn\u2019t feel anything like the character I had been hired to play. I felt inadequate, undeserving, confused. The day before shooting began, I confessed this all to Mike.\u201d <\/p>\n Taking the brave move to be honest and open with his boss, Bridges allowed Cimino to really show his class. \u201cThis was Mike\u2019s first movie, one he had written as well. He\u2019d been given this opportunity by Clint Eastwood, the movie\u2019s producer and star. I felt sorry for Mike,\u201d Bridges continued. \u201cThis was a big break for him, and here he was, the day before his movie was to start shooting, and this frightened young actor who had a major role in it was telling him he didn\u2019t know if he could do it.\u201d <\/p>\n But Cimino was clearly more advanced in his handling of such a situation than Bridges had thought, and offered up a genuinely brilliant analogy to calm matters. \u201cAfter not too long a pause, Mike looked at me and said, \u2018You know that game, Tag?\u2019 \u2018Yeah,\u2019 I said. \u2018Well\u2026 You\u2019re it,\u2019 Mike told me. He went on to say that this guy, Lightfoot, was no one other than me, that I couldn\u2019t make a mistake, or a false move, even if I wanted to.\u201d <\/p>\n Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/p>\n The idea of playing Tag with yourself and just affirming that you are, in fact, \u201cit\u201d might be a simple idea, but it also has cut-through. So often, actors can struggle to compound their own feelings and allow the role to envelop them. For Bridges, the basic premise of refusing to believe you were anything but the character in question didn\u2019t just see him through his first movie but affirmed his career. <\/p>\n He confessed, \u201cI\u2019ve never forgotten that bit of direction that that young director gave me on his first movie, that gift of confidence. I\u2019ll often bring it to mind when that feeling of inadequateness, that feeling of not deserving what I\u2019ve been given, comes to me. I\u2019ll remember to enjoy the game, this game of \u2018Tag.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Bridges clearly used this idea when working throughout his career. In his roles, there are few actors who have simply become their characters more easily than Bridges. One need only look at his defining role in The Big Lebowski for proof of that<\/a>.<\/p>\n So, if you ever find yourself struggling to ignore the feeling of being an imposter, perhaps take a little bit of advice from \u2018The Dude\u2019 himself and simply play Tag with yourself.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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