THE BIG LEBOWSKI: The Dude Celebrates His 25th Anniversary

Introduction

Directors and brothers Joel and Ethan Coen were riding on the coattails of the wildly successful and Oscar-winning masterpiece that was Fargo (1994). As a result, the brothers had high hopes for their quirky Chandler-esque follow-up, The Big Lebowski (1998). Unfortunately, audiences just didn’t get it. The film earned only $18 million domestically.

Some critics turned up their noses, hailing it as the worst of the Coen Brothers’ outings to date. Further, they felt it paled in comparison to the far superior Fargo. After all, who really cared about a jobless, philosophical, bowling pothead named Jeffrey Lebowski? It turns out, we all did.

Twenty-five years after its initial theatrical run, The Big Lebowski has become a beloved and oft-quoted cult classic. Written in the early 1990s around the same time as Barton Fink (1991), the Coen Brothers’ surrealistic noir has developed a following, unlike very few films ever.

Often dissected and analyzed for spiritual meaning and consistently praised and worshipped for its mythology, The Big Lebowski has entered the pantheon of films that can truly be called cult classics. It’s also one of the funniest and most quotable films in history. Cinema Scholars looks back at the making of The Big Lebowski.

Beginnings

In The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges stars as Jeffrey Lebowski, also commonly referred to as “The Dude.” Bridges’ character is partially based on Jeff Dowd, an American film producer, and political activist. Dowd was a member of the infamous Seattle Seven, a group that was charged with “conspiracy to incite a riot.” This was in the wake of violent Vietnam War protests at a Federal courthouse in downtown Seattle in 1971. Dowd served three months in prison.

Dowd later moved to Los Angeles and broke into the film industry, becoming an independent film producer and promoter. He had a chance to meet with the Coen brothers while they were on the junket, promoting their first film, Blood Simple (1984). This meeting would change Dowd’s life forever. Dowd also was in a position to help the Coens, as he was a film marketing master as well as one of the founding fathers of the Sundance Film Festival.

Fourteen years after their first meeting, Dowd would be delivered a script. It was about a guy who just wanted to get his rug back (it tied the room together). The screenplay’s main character seemed vaguely familiar to Dowd. After spending time with him, the Coen Brothers knew Dowd had a personality that had to be shared with the masses. Also affectionately referred to as “Dude” by his friends and peers, Dowd spoke with The Hollywood Reporter in 2013:

“They called me up and said ‘we’re doing this movie’ I said, ‘Oh, shit’ because now I’ve lost some weight, but at that point I was a little heavier and the thought was that it would be [John] Goodman or some larger-than-life buffoon, some Hollywood ne’er-do-well buffoon. They said, ‘No, don’t worry, Dude. It’s Jeff Bridges. We’re playing it the other way'”

Besides Dowd, The Dude was also partly based on Peter Exline, a teacher at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and a long-time friend of the Coen Brothers. At the time, Exline, reportedly, lived in a shoddy apartment and spoke often of a rug that he stated: “tied the room together.” Exline was introduced to the Coen Brothers by then-cinematographer, Barry Sonnenfeld while they were trying to raise the funds to make Blood Simple. 

The Script

With a meandering and sometimes aimless plot, The Big Lebowski is all about the characters and the jokes. The various cross-pathing of many of the players in the film results in the screenplay being very much in the vein of a Robert Altman production (Short Cuts, Nashville, The Player). As a result of the vagueness of everything, the film, and The Dude, have been re-interpreted over the ensuing decades.

The Big Lebowski has been called “a parable of Global Capitalism,” as well as a “modern adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Stranger.” The Dude is even seen by some as a modern-day Jesus (note the hair similarities). The script and film even gave birth to its own religion, Dudeism. Its main tenet is preaching “non-preachiness.”

Defying genres and one of the most oft-quoted films ever (“obviously, you’re not a golfer”), The Big Lebowski is a smart and witty script and among the best things that the Coen Brothers have ever written. A perpetually stoned and out-of-work layabout dropped into a Raymond Chandler noir mystery. It’s the perfect mashup.

As per Ethan Coen, The Big Lebowski was written as revolving around the relationship between The Dude and Walter. Additionally, Joel Coen states that Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973) was a major influence when the brothers were filming. Joel Coen spoke about the script in 1998 for the DVD documentary: The Making of The Big Lebowski:

“With this one we sort of figured, you know, if things become a little bit too complicated or unclear, it really doesn’t matter…this is similar to Chandler. The plot is sort of secondary to the other things that are sort of going on in the piece. I think that if people get a little confused it’s not necessarily going to get in the way of them enjoying the movie”

One of the running gags in the film is that we never find out how the Dude makes money to live his humble existence. However, in an early draft of the script, it’s shown that the Dude is actually the heir to the Rubik Cube fortune. However, this was not used in the final shooting script. Perhaps one of the most endearing qualities of the screenplay is that these characters are immensely lovable, even though they shouldn’t be.

Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) is a bully, who is constantly yelling at, and berating those around him. Yet, the character is so fleshed out, that the viewer feels he’s really just a misunderstood bear of a man. The Coen Brothers had previously replicated this type of characterization in their earlier hit, Raising Arizona (1987).

Casting

The Coen Brothers were at the top of the Hollywood mountain after scoring multiple Academy Awards (Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress) for their latest effort, Fargo. The film grossed over $60 million on a $7 million budget. This meant that Gramercy Pictures and the deep pockets of Universal Studios were going to open up the vault and give the Brothers what they needed.

This included a bigger budget ($15 million) and quality talent to choose from. At the top of their things-to-do list was who was going to portray the now iconic Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski. Jeff Bridges was not the first choice.

It may be impossible to imagine anyone else inhabiting the character and very essence that is The Dude. However, it was Australian actor, Mel Gibson whom the Coen Brothers first approached to play the role. This actually makes sense as Gibson has a natural charm and can also bring the funny, as evidenced by the Lethal Weapon films.

Gibson was also a red-hot and in-demand actor after recently taking home a boatload of Oscars for Braveheart (1996) and following that up with Ransom (also in 1996), which grossed over $300 million. However, Gibson didn’t take the script or the role too seriously and the Coen Brothers rescinded their offer. This opened the door for Bridges. While Bridges, in the ensuing decades has embraced his role as The Dude, he was initially hesitant to take on the part. Bridges spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in 2023:

“My first impression was it was a great script and I had never done anything like it. I thought the brothers must have spied on me when I was in high school…My daughters were preteen, and I was concerned I would set a bad example. Being a child of a celebrity, I know what that’s like for a kid.”

With the Coen Brothers locking down their star, now came the arduous job of casting all the supporting roles, of which there were many. One that was particularly difficult to cast was the titular character, the “Big” or older Lebowski. The role was offered to Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman, and Anthony Hopkins, who all turned it down.

Norman Mailer, George C. Scott, Gore Vidal, Andy Griffith, and Ernest Borgnine were also considered. The Coen Brothers’ first option was none other than Marlon Brando. Jeffrey Lebowski—a cranky, wheelchair-bound millionaire, was eventually portrayed by prolific character actor David Huddleston.

Wife to “Big” Jeffrey Lebowski, Maude (Julianne Moore) is a feminist avant-garde artist whose works are considered to be “strongly vaginal.” She’s also partially responsible for all the trouble that The Dude gets himself into. That and she desperately wants to get pregnant by a man she won’t have to actually speak to.

Moore has stated that Maude was based on artist Carolee Schneemann, who had frequently “worked naked from a swing.” This is also reflected in the film. The actress also, apparently, took inspiration partially from Yoko Ono.

Jesus Quintana (John Turturro), the Dude’s bowling rival and antagonist is an outrageous character. The brothers created the role specifically for Turturro when they had seen him in the play, Mi Puta Vida. In it, the actor portrays a “pederast-type character.” They thought that Turturro could take the character in some unique directions. The result was one of the most outrageous performances of his career.

The late Phillip Seymour Hoffman brilliantly portrays the character of Brandt. As a manservant to Jeffrey “Big” Lebowski, the few minutes that Hoffman is on-screen has turned into one of his more iconic roles. Phillip Seymour Hoffman spoke to Rolling Stone in 2008 about playing Brandt and the film’s subsequent cult status:

“Oh yeah. It’s a huge fan base. It definitely goes under cult film status, for sure. People that love that film, love it, and they’ve seen it a lot and know it very well. I like that about that movie. I feel the same way. It’s one of those films that I haven’t seen in years, but sometimes I’ll catch snippets of it on something as I’m passing through the TV and it does make you want to stop and watch it. All the scenes are so great”

The cast of The Big Lebowski is rounded out by a who’s who of character actors and frequent Coen regulars. John Goodman. Ben Gazzara. Steve Buscemi. Tara Reid. Jon Polito. Peter Stormare. Sam Elliott. David Thewlis. Aimee Mann. All of these actors add to the flavor and style of this Raymond Chandler-like story, gone off the rails.

Peter Exline had told the brothers stories about a fellow Vietnam Vet with a temper, Lewis Abernathy. These stories, and Abernathy, were the basis for The Dude’s angry and misunderstood friend, Walter Sobchak, portrayed by Goodman. Sobchak was also loosely based on filmmaker John Milius (and his love of guns and the military), who Joel and Ethan had met during the production of Barton Fink (1991).

Filming

PolyGram and Working Title Films rewarded the Coen Brothers’ success on Fargo with a budget twice the size. This meant that The Big Lebowski was going to look and feel exactly the way that the brothers wanted it. This also meant including a psychedelic Busby Berkeley 1920s-era dream sequence filmed in a converted airplane hangar. Shot over an eleven-week period in the Summer of 1997, The Big Lebowski is fundamentally a Los Angeles film.

Much like the early works of Quentin Tarantino, The Big Lebowski was all about location, location, location. At the center of this was the sleazy and perfect Santa Monica Blvd. More specifically, the Googie-styled Hollywood Star Lanes Bowling Alley. Torn down in 2002, this legendary bowling alley was the center of The Dude’s universe, and where a good portion of the film takes place.

One thing that’s a constant in the film is the frequent clash of lifestyles, social status, and geographical differences between the classes. This was common in Raymond Chandler’s work, specifically, the tales of the private eye, Phillip Marlowe. The Big Lebowski is often switching gears between Venice, (where The Dude lives in a snug little bungalow on 606 Venezia Avenue), to the Mansions of Beverly Hills (passing off as Pasadena).

10231 Charing Cross Road in the luxury neighborhood of Holmby Hills is where the exteriors of the “Lebowski Mansion” were filmed. The interiors for these scenes were subsequently filmed at the familiar and oft-used Greystone Mansion, located at 905 Loma Vista Drive in Beverly Hills. We wrote about the Greystone Mansion here.

There were additional “Googie Style” locations featured in The Big Lebowski, namely, Johnnies Coffee Shop. Located at Sunset and Crescent Heights in Hollywood, this is where Walter and The Dude talk about Bunny Lebowski’s (Tara Reid) toe. “Googie Style” architecture featured sputniks, starbursts, and ellipses. It was named after Googie’s, a coffee shop at Sunset and Crescent Heights in Hollywood. The coffee shop has since been torn down.

The production and costume designs in the film are rich, vibrant, and filled with color. Part of the reason for the unique vibe and look that The Big Lebowski gives off is because of its legendary costume designer, Mary Zophres. She spoke with Another Man Magazine back in 2018 about what her biggest challenges were in bringing the Coen Brothers’ vision to life:

“I was most terrified about the dance number. I was young and had never done one before. There’s a crane, ten cameras, 25 dancers, and your costumes could screw it all up. The script described it as a Busby Berkeley-style dance, with bowling themed headpieces. I immediately thought of a Carmen Miranda fruit basket, but me and my assistant tried that, and it wasn’t pretty! Then we came up with flat foam bowling pins, spread like a deck of cards. When the dancers were bowing and coming back up during filming, and the headpieces didn’t fall apart, I was so relieved”

Academy-Award-winning cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins has collaborated with the Coen Brothers more than any other filmmaker over his long and distinguished career. Deakins has filmed twelve of their movies starting with Barton Fink (1991) and earning Oscar nominations for Fargo (1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007), and True Grit (2010).

When the Coens switched from film to digital, Deakins was there with them. For better or for worse. The legendary cinematographer has said on more than one occasion that the Coen Brothers were the most knowledgeable directors he has ever worked with. Additionally, they are also right up there in the least amount of takes or, in the pre-digital days, the least amount of film shot, per foot.

The Music

Among the many accolades that the Coen Brothers have received over the years, one of the most oft-mentioned is the music they inject into their films. At the center of this is Oscar-nominated composer, Carter Burwell. Burwell has been working with Joel and Ethan since the very beginning, starting with Blood Simple (1984). Burwell has collaborated with the brothers fourteen times. His scores have since become synonymous with a Coen Brothers film.

For The Big Lebowski, the brothers themselves had envisioned Kenny Rogers’ Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In) being in the film. They also loved the Gipsy Kings’ cover of Hotel California. Both songs are in the film and are fantastic. T-Bone Burnett, who later worked with the brothers on O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Ladykillers (2004), is given credit as the “music bibliographer” on The Big Lebowski.

One of the unique things that Burnett does is that each character has his/her own unique theme or signature. For example, Tumbling Tumbleweeds was chosen for The Stranger (Sam Elliott), as he projects the persona of a cowboy. Conversely, the German nihilists are accompanied by the beats of techno-pop. Whereas, Jeff Bridges’ “The Dude” is serenaded by the rocking and grooving songs of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Release and Legacy

The Big Lebowski had its world premiere at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. The reviews, along with the audience’s reaction, were mixed. On March 6, 1998, the film was given a wide release throughout the US. By the end of its initial theatrical run, the domestic gross was around $18 million, barely making its money back. Conversely, outside of the US, audiences seemed to get it, with the film pulling in almost $29 million. Overall, it was a modest success. Legendary New York Times critic, Janet Maslin, perhaps summed it up best:

“Mr. Bridges finds a role so right for him that he seems never to have been anywhere else. Watch this performance to see shambling executed with nonchalant grace and a seemingly out-to-lunch character played with fine comic flair. Mr. Goodman also fits his role perfectly, ranting with a furious irrelevance that contrasts perfectly with the Dude’s cavalier mode. The Coen’s ensemble players are as funny and harmonious as they’ve ever been here”

In the ensuing twenty-five years since its release, The Big Lebowski has become a bona fide cult classic. College students all over the world relish in the films’ stoner brand of comedy and snappy one-liners that can easily be applied to everyday circumstances (Hey, careful, man, there’s a beverage here!). Still, The Coen Brothers never quite understood all the hype, nor did they really care to.

In 2007, a book was written about the legacy of The Big Lebowski. The Coen Brothers contributed a single line towards the tome, its first sentence, which read “They have neither our blessing nor our curse.” This is a typical Coen Brothers type of response towards the enduring love and appeal of one of their films. However, Jeff Bridges, who contributed the forward to the book, felt differently. Indeed, he stated:

“People often ask me if I’m surprised at the amount of attention The Big Lebowski has received over the past few years. They usually expect me to say ‘yes’ but my answer is always ‘no’. What surprises me is that it didn’t do as well as I thought it would when it first came out. It was so damn funny…Someone asked me, ‘How would you feel at the end of your career if the role you were most famous for was The Dude?’ ‘I’d be fucking delighted,’ I told him.”

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