Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore reunite for 'Seventh Son'

NEW YORK, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Jeff Bridges jokes that Seventh Son, his new medieval fantasy flick with Julianne Moore, is really a prequel to their 1998 contemporary comedy The Big Lebowski.

Their second collaboration -- which is set for theatrical release Friday -- casts the stars as the evil-battling warrior Master Gregory and shape-shifting witch Mother Malkin.

"Not many people know this, but I think we just let this out of the bag, that this film is actually a prequel," Bridges laughed at a weekend press conference for Seventh Son in New York. "There are some kind of weird parallels. I think of Maude flying [in The Big Lebowski]... The Dude liked to smoke it and drink it, and Gregory, I'm sure, he has some kind of smoking mixture. ... There are probably some similarities. I haven't really thought too much about it, but now I will."

"It's just so great to be with Jeff again," Moore, who was sitting beside Bridges, told the reporters. "Not only do we kind of drag our relationship along as people, as actors, but I think the audience does, too. So, there's that sense of: 'Oh, I know those guys! They were in a movie together before.' So, that kind of comes along with you and it was something I hadn't really anticipated and it's cool. It's a really cool thing."

"Positive baggage kind of," Bridges added. "Even doing what we're doing here now. It's kind of the same thing. Being together. We've had the pleasure of doing a lot of interviews this morning just together and it's kind of like performing together in a way. You're riffing off each other and being inspired by each other."

Moore noted she always remembers the year she made The Big Lebowski because she was pregnant with her son at the time.

"It's been 17 years and I have a little Lebowski to prove it," quipped the actress, who has two children with her husband Bart Freundlich.

"That wasn't method acting, by the way," Bridges offered.

"I actually got pregnant -- he's not Jeff's -- on The Big Lebowski and my son is 17 years old. So, that's how I know it's been 17 years. Isn't that crazy?" Moore said.

Moore also is a current Oscar nominee for Best Actress for her work in the celebrated drama Still Alice.