Jeff Bridgeshas revealed that he stumbled across his latest projectThe Giverby looking through children's books in search for a project for his father, Lloyd. Bridges plays the lead in the young-adult adaptation though his attachment to the movie started out as something for himself to direct.

The GiverJeff Bridges [L] plays 'The Giver'

Bridges stars opposite Meryl Streep in the movie - which has garnered strong reviews from critics - though he was initially supposed to be behind the camera. 

"My daughters read the book, but before I had known that they had read the book I was looking for some material to direct my father in, Lloyd Bridges," he said Flicks and Bits, "And I wanted to do something that my kids could watch at the time, and I was looking through a catalog of children books and I came across this wonderful cover of a book, with this old, kind of grizzled kind of guy on the cover and thought, "Oh yeah, my dad can play that guy!" And so I got that book and read it and just fell in love with the story.. I was expecting it to be children's book, but I really got it on an adult level that worked so well."

Katie HolmesKatie Holmes [L] also stars in 'The Giver'

In the end, Bridges played the 'grizzly' guy who his father was supposed to play.

"With this character, I got more and more like that grizzled guy as I got older (laughs)," he said, "I feel like sort of an extension of my father. He was my Giver, or one of my Givers, both my dad and my mom. I'm kind of carrying on with his work, so I really feel him with me all the time. And the character, he's a fella that retains all of the knowledge of the past - something that this society, in which The Giver's story is all about, has done away with memories and history and they've created a society of sameness."

Based on the best-selling book of the same name, The Giver follows the story of Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if dull, world of conformity and contentment. However, he quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community's past after spending time with The Giver (Bridges). 

The Giver is out in US cinemas from today. 

Watch The Giver trailer: