By Paul Freeman [1984 Interview]

Jeff Bridges just might be the king of cult.

The versatile actor has created indelible roles in such cult faves as "Tron," "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot," "Heaven's Gate," "The Fabulous Baker Boys," "The Fisher King" and, of course, "The Big Lebowski."

PCC interviewed Bridges in 1984, when his latest film, "Starman," was about to be released. It, too, turned out to be a cult classic.

PCC reviewed the film upon its 2019 release in a Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Shout! Factory:

1984's "Starman," directed by John Carpenter, is science-fiction with a heart. A spaceship responds to a welcome from the Voyager 2 probe. It crashes to Earth, shot down by the military. A benevolent alien (Jeff Bridges) takes the form of a woman's dead husband. The woman (Karen Allen, "Raiders of the Lost Ark") is both scared and attracted. There's a purity about this miraculous being. The naive creature wants to go home and she wants to help.

The performances by Bridges and Allen can't help but captivate. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his efforts, though he had to wait 15 years, for "Crazy Heart," to bring the statuette home.

The script by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon is imaginative, touching, spiritual and uplifting. Jack Nitzsche's score contributes greatly to the mood of the piece. There's also a lovely duet of "All I Have to Do Is Dream," performed by Allen and Bridges. And "Starman" stands as one of Carpenter's finest directorial efforts, showing a tender side, instead of opting for blood and bombast.

Ample bonus features on the Blu-ray add to the pleasure of rediscovering the film. Fans of "Starman" will find it worth purchasing the new disc just for the chance to view "They Came from Hollywood: Remembering 'Starman.'" The retrospective gives us fond recollections from cast and crew members including Carpenter, Bridges, Charles Martin Smith and script supervisor Sandy King Carpenter.

Jeff Bridges has skillfully created a wide variety of fascinating personae in such films as "Last Picture Show," "Fat City," "Hearts of the West," "King Kong," "Cutter's Way" and "Against All Odds."

These dissimilar characters did have one thing in common -- they were all human. "Starman" isn't.

The Columbia film "Starman" is an unusual blend of science-fiction and romance. It tells the story of an alien explorer (Bridges), who is stranded outside the rural Wisconsin home of Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). The "Starman" clones and assumes the human form of Scott Hayden, Jenny's recently deceased husband.

He forces her to take him 2,000 miles for a rendezvous with his mother ship. If he doesn't get there within three days, he will die. In the course of the eventful journey, a unique bond grows between Jenny and Starman.

What attracted Bridges to the project?

"I liked the positive message," he says, absently fiddling with a cup of coffee. On a press tour for "Starman," Bridges is briefly lodged in San Francisco's Clift Hotel. He looks collegiate with shirt open at the collar, sweater and tweed jacket.

"Also, I liked the idea of working with John (director John Carpenter). I'd admired his work."

Though Carpenter's reputation was built on shocks, gore and action -- "Halloween," "Escape From New York" and "Christine" -- Bridges had confidence in the filmmaker's ability to handle more fragile themes. However he did have some trepidation about the emphasis on special effects.

"I had done other special effects films ("Tron") and it always bothered me that the effects were of more concern than the relationships of the actors," Bridges says. "But John assured me that it wouldn't be that way with 'Starman,' that he was primarily concerned with making a movie about relationships.

"He was right. The effects didn't get in the way.

"This was a big departure for him. He was doing something completely different from anything he'd ever done before. I think he pulled it off quite well.

"It was something different for me, too. Another reason I wanted to do the film in the first place was the challenge of playing something other than a human being."

Bridges had to display a balance between exceptional intelligence and naiveté. "I had to walk a fine line," he says. "At first I thought, 'Gee, nobody knows what an alien's really like. I can do just about anything I want to do.'

"But then, the more I looked at the story, I felt I didn't want to rip the fabric of the piece by doing something that would stick out in the wrong way. So I did a lot of video work. I set up my video equipment in my living room and experimented with different ways it could be played.

"Then I would take those tapes to John and we would work with them until we were on the right track. Then I'd go back and work some more. That helped a lot.

"I also worked with a friend, a dancer, on isolated body movements. Usually the assignment for an actor is to move as naturally in the body of the character he's playing as he possibly can, to really be at home in that body.

"Here, it was the opposite -- being a stranger in the body. It was almost like you were riding, inside, sitting on a chair in someone's head. Each movement had to be very conscious."

The script gave little background information on Starman, so Bridges made up details to enrich his performance.

"I imagined what it was like on Starman's home planet -- that they had evolved into a state where they could leave their bodies. Perhaps their bodies were destroyed in some terrible holocaust, an atomic war of some sort. So they travel around the universe, experimenting with being inside different life forms.

"They might live through the bodies of dinosaurs for 100 years and live like orchids for the next hundred. Maybe now they'll all look like Scott Hayden, when Starman goes back."

What were Starman's reactions to Earth?

"He's mystified by our violent side and he's very curious about things that are peculiarly human -- humor for instance, or our capacity for love.

"The movie's a device to look at humanity, to observe our good and bad points. It tells us to help each other and not be so fearful of the unknown. It's basically optimistic.

"I'd be happy if the audience is just entertained," Bridges says. "But it'd be nice if they get some message that would move them in a positive direction."

For our 1991 and 2000 interviews with Jeff Bridges, visit: http://popcultureclassics.com/bridges.html