20 facts for the anniversary of the film "The Big Lebowski"

The Coen brothers' "The Big Lebowski" is more than just a movie. This is an integral and, without exaggeration, a cult part of modern Americana. But what is more surprising, despite the unconditional emphasis on pop culture and the political nuances of life in the United States, the film "The Big Lebowski" has achieved undying popularity far beyond their borders. Including us.

In honor of the big anniversary of the manifesto film, we suggest mixing a glass of "White Russian" and finding out two dozen facts about the Dude.

In 1983, the Coen brothers were preparing for the release of their debut film "Just Blood", and producer Jeff Dowd helped them in this. His charisma, civic stance (he was a militant pacifist and a member of the fighting wing of the Seattle Seven anti-Vietnam movement) and even a casual manner of dressing made an indelible impression on young filmmakers.

15 years later, it was Daud who became the prototype of the Dude, who almost completely adopted all his characteristic features: from appearance to views on life.

The Coen brothers began searching for the main role almost before the start of filming. In his book The Dudes Abide, Alex Belt— who worked as an assistant to the Cohen brothers at the time—recalled that they had a short list of several actors, each of whom the Cohens would have given a role without hesitation. Among them was Robert Duvall (he refused, because he didn't like the script), Gene Hackman (who was on sabbatical at the time) and Anthony Hopkins (refused due to unwillingness to play an American). And Marlon Brando crowned this list.

The same Belt writes that during the completion of the script, the Cohen brothers even read aloud the Dude's lines, imitating the manner of Brando's speech.

In one scene, a dude slides down a bowling alley, flying between the legs of a dozen girls in a mini. By chance or not, Jeff's wife and daughters came to the studio to shoot this particular episode. Apparently, realizing that the mere fact of the presence of his minor children is not enough, the crew decided to aggravate the situation of the actor and drive him into the paint even more. Enlisting the help of a makeup artist, each girl received sprawling bushes of fake vegetation under her skirt, visually indistinguishable from the real one. Moreover, the bush of each subsequent girl, under whose skirt Bridges drove face up, was more and more magnificent.

By the way, for decades Jeff has been coming to the site with his vintage, fully mechanical panoramic camera and capturing some working moments on it. Over the years, there have been so many photos that in 2006 he published an album of such black-and-white photographs. One of them captured a first-person view from the very scene in the bowling alley.

Jeff Bridges became interested in photography at school. In the early 1980s, a colleague in the film "Man from the Stars" Karen Allen suggested that he recall a youthful hobby, and since then Jeff began documenting the shooting process. In 2013, Bridges received a special award from the International Center of Photography as part of the Infinity Awards.

In 2002, 150 fans of the film gathered in the town of Louisville, Kentucky, to watch the movie together, play bowling, arrange a quiz and just discuss their favorite movies. Over time, the event, dubbed "Lebowski Fest", began to gather an increasing audience and reached a level serious enough that the authors of the film paid attention to it. In 2011, Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore attended the fest.

In addition to the USA, there is a festival of Dude lovers in other countries. For example, in Britain it takes place every year in London and is known as The Dude Abides.

Dudeism. This is how dudeists call the system of professed moral principles and philosophical views drawn from the speeches of the Dude.

The founder of the Church of the New Dude (official name) was the journalist Oliver Benjamin, who emphasizes that, despite the seeming frivolity, their movement is not a parody and, according to internal estimates as of May 2017, 450,000 people consider themselves followers of the Dude.

The Cohen brothers have repeatedly said that under no circumstances will they undertake to make a continuation of the Dude's story. But does this mean that such restrictions apply to other characters in the film? "Of course not!" thought John Turturro and shot a conditional sequel to "The Big Lebowski" dedicated to his ball—licking character named Jesus Quintana.

In the tape called Going Places, he not only played the main role, but also acted as a director. The shooting of the film is officially over. The release is expected this year.

On June 9, 2002, as part of the 17th FIFA World Cup, which was held in Korea and Japan, the Russian national team played with the Japanese team. The meeting of the national teams was broadcast on many screens located on the streets of the capital, including on Manezhnaya Square. Periodically, the broadcast was interrupted by advertisements, in each of which, according to eyewitnesses, there was a video using footage from the movie "The Big Lebowski". They show John Goodman's character smashing a car to pieces.

After the loss of the Russian national team, a crowd of angry (and drunk) fans caused mass riots: more than 100 cars were smashed, six were overturned and eight were burned. 79 people were injured, one was killed.

After these tragic events, law enforcement officers blamed the advertising company and its video. The display of sports events on large street screens has been banned.

Almost all of the music from the soundtrack is played on the radio at various points in the film. For example, The Man in Me in the scene of the first dream, when the Dude wakes up and the music is still playing from his Walkman player. Hotel California plays from the speaker system throughout the scene with Jesus in the bowling alley, as well as during brief flashbacks. The music in the scene when the Dude leaves his house plays in Da Fino's car when they talk. Also, the song that plays at the beginning of the movie keeps playing in the grocery store.

The story of the cocktail "White Russian" in itself is worthy of a separate film. When this drink was created back in 1965 by analogy with the "Black Russian", it was considered by and large a women's cocktail. But everything was changed by the movie "The Big Lebowski", during which the Dude drinks nine cocktails of "White Russian".

Lebowski's unique brutal image has forever made the "White Russian" not just a man's drink, but the cocktail that is drunk by those who understand everything, realize what they want, and are in no hurry.

At the same time, there are funny shots in the film — when Lebowski is thrown into a limo, he manages not to spill a drop from the cocktail glass he is holding in his hands.

Incredibly, but a fact — several takes of this scene were shot, and each time Jeff Bridges was able to balance the glass without spilling a drop.

The girl who appears with Bunny Lebowski and the nihilist in the porn movie that the Mod shows to the Dude is the real porn star Asia Carrera.

The check for $0.69 that the Dude writes out in the store at the beginning of the movie is dated September 11, 1991, exactly 10 years before the terrorist attacks. While the check is being written, you can hear George Bush on TV talking about Saddam Hussein.

The word "fuck" and its variations are used 281 times in the film. The man says the word "man" 147 times, that is, about one and a half times a minute. And the word "dude" is used 161 times in the movie. 160 times it is pronounced, and once it is indicated in the credits during the scene of the second vision.

The role of Bunny Lebowski, the young wife of Big Lebowski and a porn actress, starred aspiring actress Tara Reid. After the release of the picture, she instantly became famous and began to receive more offers for filming. According to Reed, Charlize Theron auditioned for the role of Bunny.

A piquant scene in which a Dude meets a nymphomaniac Bunny Lebowski near the pool, where she does a pedicure and offers a Dude to blow on her fingers, may appeal to fans of foot fetish. That's just the feet in the frame do not belong to the actress Tara Reid at all: during the filming she was duplicated by a certain Laura Burnett. The reason for this remains unknown, perhaps her toes are more graceful and cinematic than Reed's.

From the early versions of the script, the source of the Dude's income was revealed. He was the heir of the inventor of the Rubik's Cube. But Joel Cohen wished that this was not mentioned in the film.

According to the plot, the Dude considers himself a completely happy person, because his life revolves around two favorite topics: bowling and drinking. Unsurprisingly, they went through the whole movie with a red thread and the picture is overflowing with scenes from a bowling club. And on Norwegian posters and videotapes with this film there was an inscription: "Anbefales av norsk bowling forbund" ("Recommended by the Norwegian Bowling Association").

At the same time, throughout the story, the Dude is never shown throwing a bowling ball (although in three scenes he holds the ball in his hands).

The bowling scenes were filmed in the former Holly Star Lanes near Santa Monica and 101 Freeway. This building has already been demolished, and an elementary school now stands in its place. The presence of bowling in the film, according to Cohen, is due to the desire to reflect the period of the late 1950s — early 1960s.

When Jesus, the Dude's bowling rival, is shown for the first time, a flamenco version of The Eagles' song "Hotel California" is playing. Later in the car, the Dude says he hates Eagles.

During the scene in bed, the Dude tells Maude that he was a technician for Metallica during their (fictional) "Speed of Sound" tour, and refers to the band members as "a bunch of jerks".

Metallica itself was flattered that they were mentioned in the film by the Coen brothers. Guitarist Kirk Hemmet once noted in an interview that they even tried to figure out how to use this scene in their performances.

The premiere of "The Big Lebowski" took place on January 18, 1998 at the Sundance Festival, at the Eccles cinema, with a capacity of 1300 spectators. As the press later reported, many of those present openly expressed their dissatisfaction, Peter Howell wrote the following in his review for the Toronto Star newspaper: "I can't believe that a team of people who won an Oscar last year for the plot for Fargo is responsible for this. There is just a huge amount of swearing in the film, it looks like a pathetic attempt to cover up the gaps in the dialogues."

But later the film was recognized as "the first cult film of the Internet era", was nominated in eight categories of various film competitions, although it received only one award, the Golden Aries — The Guild of Film Critics and Critics of Russia declared "The Big Lebowski" the best foreign film of 1998.

At the same time, throughout the story, the Dude is never shown throwing a bowling ball (although in three scenes he holds the ball in his hands).

When Jesus, the Dude's bowling rival, is shown for the first time, a flamenco version of The Eagles' song "Hotel California" is playing. Later in the car, the Dude says he hates Eagles.

During the scene in bed, the Dude tells Maude that he was a technician for Metallica during their (fictional) "Speed of Sound" tour, and refers to the band members as "a bunch of jerks".