FX’s “The Old Man” hit screens to much acclaim last year along with solid ratings for the network – so much so it has earned itself a second season along with landing stars Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow some award nominations.
The series also became known for its production issues. It was two-thirds of the way through filming when production shut down in mid-March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With three episodes remaining to shoot, filming began again Fall 2020 but was then halted as Bridges was diagnosed with lymphoma and had to undergo cancer treatment. Production decided to then shot the necessary scenes without him and then waited.
By late 2021 Bridges announced his cancer was in remission, and by February last year filming began again on the scenes left to shoot with the series which was then aired in June.
Now, his co-star Amy Brenneman has spoken with People this week about what it was like working with Bridges during this time. Brenneman shares all her scenes with Bridges in the series, and says the time she spent filming with him left her changed:
I was with Jeff Bridges every day for 60 days. I mean, literally, we didn’t act with anybody else, and I changed because of it. I was always with Jeff, and … then he was diagnosed with cancer. Honestly, during the cancer, he was really lively. When he was sort of high on the steroids, he would call me. I was like, are you in that part of the chemo cycle? So cute.
Brenneman says things got much scarier when he contracted COVID-19 and had to battle both simultaneously – a fight Bridges has admitted in interviews that nearly killed him. She realised things were bad when he went ‘radio silent’ during that time:
“That’s where it’s like… because he’s a huge communicator, I’m like, f—, he is fighting for his life, and he was.”
Needless to say, she was relieved when things turned out okay, and she considers him an inspiration:
“You look at people that are 15, 20 years down the line that are still creative, that are still brilliant, and you go, that’s the way you do it.”
The 73-year-old Bridges can still hold his own in action scenes, including the final episodes of the show’s run involving a gun fight in a moving vehicle. “The Old Man” is now streaming on Hulu.
