“The Dude.” These two, easy phrases conjure up a lot throughout the minds of moviegoers, and particularly, followers of the Coen brothers. Joel and Ethan Coen have created a number of the most memorable characters within the historical past of movie. From H.I. McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) in Elevating Arizona, to Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) in No Nation for Previous Males, to Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) in Fargo, the 2 have mixed to seize a number of the quirkiest, most idiosyncratic, and compelling roles. However perhaps none have been as spectacularly inept as The Dude in The Large Lebowski.
Jeff Bridges‘ portrayal of Jeffrey Lebowski, aka “The Dude,” the lovably unmotivated realist is among the most interesting of his profession, and alongside John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and John Turturro, you would very simply make the case that the story of The Dude and his back-asswards downward spiral into the center of a kidnapping scandal is the perfect assortment of expertise that the Coen brothers have ever assembled. The Dude has real-world issues like payments to pay, a automobile that’s breaking down, and associates who typically don’t give him the sagest of recommendation. He loves a superb White Russian, bowling, and an occasional joint as effectively. He looks as if the man who would possibly stay upstairs from you and have a waterbed that’s leaking and dripping into your bed room. So, naturally, it begs the query; Is The Large Lebowski, and the story of The Dude, primarily based on a real story?
We will affirm that the good Coen Brothers movie The Large Lebowski is a fictional story, apart from a couple of scenes (extra on that later). We had been actually hoping to find that it’s primarily based on a real story as a result of the thought of a set of screwballs present on the market in the actual world like Jeffrey Lebowski, Walter Sobchack (Goodman), and Jesus Quintana (Turturro) being alive is an enchanting proposition. Sobchack and Jesus are two fellows you’d need in your bowling crew, proper? However the excellent news is that The Dude is at the very least partly primarily based on an actual individual named Jeff Dowd. And to make issues even higher, Dowd additionally actually does favor a well-made White Russian, stating, “It’s basically a liquefied ice cream cone which you could purchase in a bar.” We couldn’t agree extra! However what else in regards to the man the Coen brothers selected to base The Dude on is reality, and what’s fiction?
The Coen brothers met Jeff Dowd in 1981 whereas he was working with Robert Redford on creating the now enormously prestigious cinematic launching pad often called The Sundance Movie Competition. The Coens had been within the early phases of engaged on promotional materials for his or her thriller Blood Easy. After working carefully with Dowd for weeks placing collectively a advertising and marketing marketing campaign for the movie, they came upon that Dowd’s nickname was truly, “The Dude.” That’s fairly superior in itself, however after being across the quirky Dowd for an prolonged interval, the Coens started to choose up on the considerably unusual mannerisms, traits, and weird outlook on life. They stayed in contact and crossed paths a number of extra instances within the 80s as Dowd was a reasonably distinguished advertising and marketing govt. Greater than a decade later, the administrators would make a film about their experiences and time that they spent with Dowd and the top result’s the cinema goodness that’s the 1998 movie, The Large Lebowski.
As we talked about, Dowd does take pleasure in a superb White Russian. Does he drink them to the exclusion of all different alcoholic drinks? Not fairly. Dowd addressed the White Russian motif within the movie saying that though he gained’t flip down the cocktail when provided, he doesn’t drink them on a regular basis. He mentioned in an interview with HuffPost, “I drank White Russians the identical method if you had been in school, one month or one season was Tequila Sunrises and the subsequent time was Harvey Wallbangers after which White Russians.” The Coen brothers determined to concentrate on the White Russian as a result of they might have extra enjoyable with it than one thing extra easy like a vodka soda.
In response to the 2009 documentary The Achievers: The Story of the Lebowski Followers, one other actual anecdote from the movie was Dowd telling the Coen brothers his ideas on how a small rug he had simply acquired for his house “actually pulled the room collectively” — an unforgettable line within the movie. Lastly, the sequence within the film the place The Dude and Sobchack go to retrieve Lebowski’s stolen automobile from a police impound lot can also be loosely primarily based on actual occasions. Once they reclaim the automobile, they discover an eighth grader’s homework within the backseat. In response to The Achievers, this truly occurred to a colleague of the Dowd’s, and as portrayed within the movie, they go to the boy’s home to confront him believing he had stolen the automobile. The half the place Sobchack presents the boy’s homework in a plastic bag as proof actually did occur!
When The Large Lebowski hit theaters in 1998, it was not an enormous industrial success, making simply over $5.5 million on its opening weekend, however since The Dude went on to grow to be a cult fan favourite of misunderstood slackers all around the world, Dowd has gained increasingly more recognition. During the last a number of a long time, he has gone on to capitalize on the recognition of the character by touring the nation and headlining talking engagements in entrance of die-hard followers of the movie that sarcastically, name themselves “The Achievers” (therefore, the identify of the documentary, The Achievers). Dowd has additionally used his platform to spotlight his political activism within the 70s, together with a Vietnam Warfare protest as part of “The Seattle Seven.” Within the movie, The Dude mentions his participation within the political rebellion to Julianne Moore’s character as they lie in mattress subsequent to one another. This sounds prefer it requires method an excessive amount of motivation than Jeff Bridges and the Coen brother’s model of The Dude can be prepared to speculate, however is a real story, nonetheless. In case you have slightly over six minutes, do your self a favor and take a look at this clip of Jeff Dowd and what he’s as much as lately. Till then, bear in mind, “The Dude abides…”