"It is a little overwhelming, but you just have to surf the big wave, man," Bridges said.
Bridges is ending the year in a Coen brothers-version of "True Grit."
When his friends from "The Big Lebowski" first approached him about playing Rooster Cogburn, Bridges wondered why they wanted to re-make a John Wayne classic.
"They said, 'No, we're not referring to that movie at all. We're referring to the book by Charles Portis,' which I had never read," Bridges said. "Once I read it, I saw what they were talking about because the book reads like a Coen Brothers script.
"It's full of twists and turns, crazy characters, lots of humor, a lot of tragedy, drama, the whole kit and caboodle."
"True Grit" is rated PG-13. It'll be in theatres Wednesday.