Twelve years ago, Jeff Bridges finally won his Oscar for portraying an aging country singer with an alcohol problem. Even a decade later, the film stands up as a poignant and harsh look at the struggles of an addict and a fading career, beautifully brought to life by the iconic Bridges. From the acting to the country music featured throughout, Crazy Heart is one of the best musical films ever brought to the screen.
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The story follows the life of Bad Blake (Bridges). He was once a star, but as we see him performing at a bowling alley at the film's start, he's fallen from the top. He has a slew of failed relationships and mixed feelings towards Tommy Sweet, his former mentee who has gone on to become a star. Bad's loyal manager stays by his side through thick and thin and even the lovely reporter 25 his junior, Jean, manages to fall for the singer despite his troubles. One of the best parts about the story is that it's incredibly realistic -- especially the ending. Without giving anything away, Bad and Jean's relationship concludes beautifully, as do the next steps in his career. You actually see Bridges guide Bad Blake through some strong character growth in addition to performing all of his own songs. His Oscar win for Best Actor was well-deserved.
One of the craziest things about the film, other than the fact that it introduced a young Ryan Bingham to the world, is that this major Oscar contender came from a first-time writer/director. Similar to Yellowstone's mastermind Taylor Sheridan, Scott Cooper spent a decade acting before deciding to make the switch to behind the camera. His adaptation of Thomas Cobb's 1987 novel Crazy Heart was his debut film.
The cast is rounded out perfectly, with Maggie Gyllenhaal magically bringing to life single mom Jean and Colin Farrell proving to be an ideal choice for country star Tommy Sweet. And then we have the one and only Robert Duvall as Bad's longtime pal Wayne who helps him in his journey to recovery. All three complement Bridges' portrayal of Bad so well that the story, and film as a whole, sucks you right in from beginning to end. Despite Bad's mistakes and low moments, you find yourself rooting for him the entire time, just like you would your favorite country singer who has fallen from grace in real life. Stars like Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings who publicly battled addiction issues, found recovery and continued writing and performing incredible country music for adoring fans. Bridges' Bad Blake is right up there with the best of them.
Jeff Bridges nearly passed on the film
Decades into his career, we're accustomed to strong performances from Jeff Bridges. We've seen the story of the down-on-his-luck, fading star countless times on the screen and in real life, but there's something special about Crazy Heart. Bridges is so effortless and unapologetic in the way he approaches Bad Blake, you feel like he's a real person who has gone through everything he says he has. You empathize with his battle with alcoholism and his estrangement from his long-lost son. Not to mention his pain of losing Jean and Buddy when he reaches a low point with his drinking. Roger Ebert gave the film four stars in his review in 2009, praising the music in helping bring everything in the story together.
"One of the ways the movie might have gone wrong is if the singing and the songs hadn't sounded right," Ebert said. They do. Bridges has an easy, sandpapery voice that sounds as if it's been through some good songs and good whiskey."
In an interview with The Off Camera Show, Bridges described his process of choosing projects and how he tends to try not to work so much because it takes him away from his loved ones. He did like the Crazy Heart script initially but had some reservations. He was understandably worried about the music, which easily would make or break a project centered around a country singer.
"When Crazy Heart came down the pike, I thought, oh it's a pretty good script, but there's no music to it, you know? There's no music in that story. If the music wasn't any good, then the movie wouldn't be any good," Bridges explained, saying that initially, he was going to pass.
"And then my buddy T Bone Burnett, I saw him, and he said, 'So what do you think about this 'Crazy Heart' script?' I said, 'Why, you interested in that?' He said, 'I'm interested if you're interested.'" Though Bridges still had apprehensions about the lack of music, Burnett assured him that they would come up with the music. They both decided to join the project in a decision that easily made the movie as good as it possibly could have been.
"The Weary Kind" and Ryan Bingham
Bridges was right on the money when he said that the film wouldn't be the same without good music. And it's understandable why interest from Burnett was what sealed the deal for him to join the project. This wasn't Burnett's first rodeo...he previously worked as the music supervisor on the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line as well as the bluegrass classic O Brother Where Art Thou. But coming up with music for a fictional star was a bit of a different task. In a 2010 interview with EW, Burnett explained that Ryan Bingham actually brought the song "The Weary Kind" to the table.
Today fans love Bingham for his country music and starring role on the popular western series Yellowstone. But back when Crazy Heart was in pre-production, he was an aspiring singer in his 20s who landed the gig of a lifetime.
"It started with a friend of mine, an agent at CAA [Creative Artists Agency] named Jack Whigham," Bingham told the Austin Chronicle. "He had been sending things of mine around to different people. Scott Cooper, the director of Crazy Heart, had gotten a hold of some of my songs and called me up one day. I went and had lunch with him, and he told me about this movie he was working on and gave me a script to see if I might be interested in coming up with some music for it. I started writing songs, and we kind of went from there."
In the film, "The Weary Kind" is the most important song of the entire story. Bad Blake writes it after messing things up with Jean and deciding to get clean. It's easily the best of his career, so he makes a careful decision on what to do with it. It's central to his growth as a character and the conclusion of the story, so the fact that Bingham came up with it is a testament to his talent. The final version is credited as a co-write between Bingham and Burnett and landed an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe Award. Pretty impressive.
"That song kind of came to me easy," Bingham explained. "That character of Bad Blake, I grew up around so many guys like that. I kind of had some family members that lived that life, that way of drinking and of dealing with things. But [developing the music for Bad Blake] was up to T Bone. I got to hang out and just listen and learn. I guess I lucked out."
READ MORE: 'Yellowstone' Star Ryan Bingham is Also a Country Music Singer-Songwriter
