Sometimes, you’ve got to twist Jeff Bridges’ arm

Despite his extensive resume, Jeff Bridges doesn’t want to work. “I have sort of a love-hate thing going on,” admits the actor. “The times when I do the gig, it is usually because it was too cool to pass up. ... George [Clooney] calls me up and he says, ‘Hey, we’ve got a lot of cool guys,’ and I said, ‘OK, what’s the story?’ And he starts pitching me the story, and I said, ‘God! That sounds good,’ and I had to go.”

Bridges stars alongside Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey in “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” which takes a blackly comic look at U.S. paranormal military experiments begun during the Vietnam War. Bridges’ character formulates Project Jedi, a New Age soldiers’ initiative.

He met Lt. Col. Jim Channon, the man the character is based on, who is still working on the project at his Web site, FirstEarthBattalion.com. Apparently, Channon gave the film his blessing: “He said, ‘I just want people to come to my Web site,’” says Bridges. “People who are going to get it are going to get it.”