The Big Lebowski has grown in ten years.
People have seen this film more than any film that I've been in.
They've written books. There's the Lebowski Fest.
People are obsessed with that movie. They're obsessed with it.
What the hell is it? What attracts people to it?
It hits something in the young people.
Let's roll, please. Rolling.
Mark. Action.
It's gigantic.
This movie was released after Fargo.
And, you know, Fargo was very successful.
And I think the critics didn't know what to make of this when it was released.
I remember when it came out, everybody was like, "So what?"
There was sort of, like, a little bit of a thunk.
And I loved it. I can remember going to the premiere here in New York
and I was like, "That was so funny."
People didn't seem to think it was that funny.
It's taken me many years to actually get the film.
I mean, I liked it, but then I liked it more.
And it wasn't until the fourth time, I think I saw it with my son...
You might want to watch out that front window, Larry.
...that I realized how hilarious the film is.
Son, this is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!
And over the years, I think it's kind of gotten the attention that it deserves.
JEFF BRIDGES: I rarely will watch a movie of mine on TV,
but Lebowski, when that comes on,
it'll hook me, you know, because there are so many
little flavorful parts about it.
That rug really tied the room together, did it not?
It's a great film to discover. There's a lot of support out there for those discoverers,
for those little urban achievers or whatever you want to call yourselves.
MOORE: I always say that it's sort of a Rorschach test, what movies people remember.
When you walk down the street and somebody says, "Hey I loved you in..."
And I first noticed it happening with college guys.
And it's sort of the frat boy kind of thing.
When a young man came by, who was 21, 22, it was always The Big Lebowski.
...without batting an eye, a man will refer to his dick, or his rod or his Johnson.
What they say, they either point at me and scream "Roseanne!"
Or call me Tom Arnold, or they'll whip out a line from Lebowski.
The lines are very whippable.
Smokey, my friend, you're entering a world of pain.
Every time John says, "Shut the fuck up, Donny."
You know, I just love that.
Shut the fuck up, Donny!
"Shut the fuck up, Donny." That's a big one.
Donny, you're out of your element.
Dude, the Chinaman is not the issue here.
One of my favorite images in the film is
when John Turturro was cleaning his bowling ball.
It's semi-obscene, and I don't even know why.
TURTURRO: I get mail from all kinds of people,
and I get all kinds of weird sex mail from women and men.
This is it! Let's take that hill!
"Dude, slow it down, when we hit 15 mph, I'm rolling out."
And he has an Uzi wrapped up in paper, which, naturally, destroys the car.
Hey! Hey! Careful, man! There's a beverage here!
DUDE: Let me just praise my own work. I love, "I got a beverage here."
You know, I get stuck into the limo there,
and when I'm trying to describe the new shit that's come to light, you know?
I mean, it's not just... It might not be just such a simple... You know?
I tried to be very faithful to the script.
I didn't want to add any extra "man's" or any extra "fuck's,"
or even the ellipses that the guys put in there, you know?
I wanted to put the pauses where those were.
MOORE: In the Coen brothers movie, the language is always so wonderful, so rich.
Their language is so specific that you would do something and then
Ethan and Joel will say, "Okay, now do it again, but leave out these two words."
So you just kind of change... The cadence of the sentence would be changed.
They did a great job in creating the rhythm of the dialog.
Saturday, Donny, is shabbos, the Jewish day of rest.
That means I don't work, I don't drive a car, I don't fucking ride in a car,
I don't handle money, I don't turn on the oven
and I sure as shit don't fucking roll!
It's very, kind of, old movie style. People have to rattle off all this exposition
and do it quickly and with a certain amount of humor and style.
GOODMAN: We got that, I think, during the rehearsal.
We just got used to each other's rhythms.
We all know who is at fault here, so what the fuck are you talking about?
People always ask me if it was improvised.
No. God, no. But it was the pauses, there's, you know, line dot dot dot.
And so, sometimes to discover the truth of the scene,
we would improvise during rehearsal, to figure out, put it in your own words.
But I tried to always go back to the script.
MAN: Six Baker. Take two, mark. And action.
BRIDGES: To have a mind behind your character, like Joel and Ethan, it's a wonderful gift.
I have a brother, who I love very much. We had a good time working together.
But to imagine directing a film with Beau, my brother, would be very tough.
Because, you know, we have very strong opinions,
and we approach things in slightly different ways.
And I asked Joel, "How do you guys do it?"
He says, in the writing of it, they've been working on this,
and they've honed and they've had all their discussions and arguments
if they had any, you know, that kind of thing to work it all out prior.
So when they came to the directing part, it was all pretty much in place.
And they were just kind of open to see what else anybody else had to say.
They know who they wanna work with. They know exactly what they wanna do.
And it makes for a very wonderful atmosphere.
MOORE: I think that was the thing that I found really amazing.
They seem to be in complete harmony, in accord, always.
And sometimes Joel would talk to you, and sometimes Ethan would talk to you.
And I thought, well, they'll come up together, there will be some discussion.
But it just doesn't work that way. One will talk and then the other will talk
and they seemed to be on the same page.
BRIDGES: The big disagreement that I can remember between the two
was in the dream sequence when my head is about to hit the bowling balls.
Joel, who would kind of be the point man, as far as directing...
He would usually be the guy who would...
Although Ethan would be kind of flitting around,
and he would add his thoughts as well.
But Joel said, "Now, when you hit the bowling balls,
"you're kind of grimacing when you hit the bowling balls."
And Ethan came up and he said, "Grimacing, really?
"I thought he'd be smiling. He would kind of enjoy it."
Joel said, "No, I think..." Ethan said, "Really? Well."
And Ethan kind of looked, and then there was...
"Well, let's shoot it both ways. Okay."
And that's basically the biggest disagreement they'd ever had.
TURTURRO: it's actually interesting the way they do things.
'Cause it's a Mom and Pop candy store. One-stop shopping.
And they're involved with every little thing, and everything counts.
MOORE: Their specificity of vision, the way they shoot,
the way the production design is, the script...
Three pigs in blanket.
...their shots, everything is so deliberate.
GOODMAN: They're very specific about things they talk about, like an iron lung
or a Ziploc bag with somebody's homework.
These things are almost iconic now,
but they're just very simple things just put in very strange ways.
In an odd sort of way, you're just incredibly relaxed,
because everything is taken care of all the time.
BRIDGES: On the set, the environment that they created was so loose,
that you felt like you had all the time in the world.
You could try it this way, you could try it that way.
They were always very inclusive, wanted to know, you know,
"You got any ideas? What do you wanna do?"
BUSCEMI: I think just two very down-to-earth guys,
and they love what they do, and I love to work with them.
Working with those guys is a joy. It's a joy.
BRIDGES: When I watch The Big Lebowski, I love the story and all the characters,
but for me, it's very hard to separate it from my own life.
There's a bit of a home movie aspect to it even when I watch it,
'cause I remember what we had for lunch that day,
or what the other takes were.
BUSCEMI: The whole movie was just easy to do.
I don't remember there being anything hard about it. We just had a great time.
Donny, please.
It was a once in a lifetime deal.
Characters like Walter don't come along every day.
I've seen a lot of spinals, Dude, and this guy's a fake.
If this is what I'll be remembered for, then that's aces with me.
I think it's just wonderful. It's one of my favorite movies.
Not only the movies I've been in, but just flat out one of my favorite movies.
TURTURRO: College kids are not going to classes because of The Big Lebowski.
And I blame this all on Joel and Ethan.
I think they're recognizing it for what it is. It's a brilliant film.
And that's why our society is in crisis. 'Cause of The Big Lebowski.
You don't need the marijuana to watch the movie, kids.
It's good without it.
TURTURRO: The Dude. What kind of example is he?
The Dude abides.
It goes on forever. This stuff could never end.
Who knows what happened to Walter?
He could have become a priest or something like that.
Maybe there'll be a Lebowski Junior.
'Cause he's 10 years old now.
I wonder where that dude is today, must be about 10 years old now, you know.
I wonder what he's doing.
Probably selling pot to all his friends. I don't know.