The Dude weighs in on surfing hazards, isolation tanks, and stupid sibling tricks.

Interviewed by Steven Russell

What’s your most cherished possession?

In 1975 I was in Montana making Rancho Deluxe, and I see this girl waitressing at the dude ranch where we’re shooting. I can’t take my eyes off her, because her beauty is juxtaposed with two black eyes and a broken nose from a car accident. I ask her out, and she says no, but it’s a small town, so we end up dancing one night. Cut to 15 years later, we’re married, and the makeup man from that movie sends me an old photograph of me talking to some ­local girl. He’d just come across it in his files; didn’t even know I was married. It was a photograph of the first words I ever uttered to my wife.

What’s the worst physical pain you ever experienced?

When I was about 15, I was surfing in front of my parents’ Malibu beach house. I’m not a big-wave surfer, but I caught a pretty good-size wave and my board purled — that’s when it submerges nose-first — then it popped back out with tremendous force and connected with my testicles.

What’s the best cure for a hangover?

I stoke up beforehand with those anti-alcohol pills you get at health food stores. Maybe it’s psychological, but they seem to help. Hey, you know the funny thing about Mexico? You can drink a lot more there and don’t get a hangover. Why is that?

What’s the best cure for heartbreak?

Just go with it. There’s a Leonard Cohen song that goes, “Ring the bells that still can ring, forget the perfect offering. There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

What’s the strangest bet you ever made?

My brother Beau and I dared each other to do crazy stuff all the time growing up. I remember we went into a restaurant and I said, “I dare you to kiss that waitress full on the mouth.” He said, “Okay, but then you have to do somersaults across the restaurant.” So he laid one on her, and I found myself somersaulting around the tables. It was the most bizarre thing; you’d think people would notice, but there was not one look. We still do this. When we were making The Fabulous Baker Boys I’d dare Beau to stick out his tongue four times in a take, and he’d dare me to flare my nostrils seven times. Things like that.

Where’s the strangest place you ever woke up?

An isolation tank. In the early ’70s, I was introduced to John Lilly, the inventor of the sensory deprivation tank. He used me as a guinea pig, and I’d float in a completely dark, soundproof tank filled with warm salt water. The mind really takes off. I remember waking up in there with no sight, sound, or feeling, not sure if I’d really been asleep. When I got out, all the colors and sounds came rushing back.

Do you have a scar that tells a story?

Right on my forehead. I got it when I was making Against All Odds in Mexico. I came home one night after seeing some dailies we liked and having a few tequilas. I had a chin-up bar in my bathroom doorway to stay in shape. I wasn’t paying attention and did a chin-up on the wrong side of the door, where there was an overhang. It knocked me out. Blood poured out of my face, and all my joy turned into anger at doing such a dumb fucking thing. They had to put makeup on this giant gash and shoot around it.

What’s the best advice you ever received?

A lot of show business people don’t want their kids to go into acting, but my father actually encouraged me, because he loved it so much. He’d say, “Hey, there’s a part in Sea Hunt. You want to do it?” I’d say, “Oh, I don’t know,” so he’d say, “You’ll get out of school.” “Oh, okay.” He’d set me on his bed, and we’d work on the lines, and he’d teach me how you really have to listen to what the other guy is saying and let your answer come from that.

What one thing should every man know about women?

Let me just sit with that for a second. [Long pause] Different things are coming to mind. I don’t quite know the meaning of them, but I’ll share them with you. Mystery was the first word that came to mind, and the next thing is: They are the key. Maybe I’ll just leave it at that.

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This article originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Men’s Journal.