50 Fun Facts About The Big Lebowski

Which pair of filmmakers wrote, directed and produced The Big Lebowski?

Joel and Ethan Coen wrote, directed and produced The Big Lebowski, their follow-up to Fargo, with Joel credited as director and Ethan as producer.

In what year is the film set, when the Dude is attacked in his Los Angeles home?

The film is set in 1991: the Dude's 69-cent check at Ralphs is dated September 11, 1991, and Gulf War coverage plays on the store television.

What do the enforcers do to the Dude's rug before realising they have the wrong Lebowski?

Urinate on it — that is what one enforcer does to the Dude's rug, the rug that 'really tied the room together', before the pair realise they have the wrong Lebowski.

Which real-life film producer and Seattle Seven member was the main inspiration for the Dude?

Jeff Dowd, a film producer and promoter who belonged to the Seattle Seven, styled himself 'The Dude' and drank White Russians; the Coens met him while he was helping to distribute Blood Simple.

Whose love of guns and the military did the Coens fold into Walter Sobchak?

Filmmaker John Milius, the gun-loving co-writer of Apocalypse Now and director of Red Dawn, befriended the Coens in Los Angeles, and Walter's militarism and firearms obsession came from him.

Which two women did the actress playing Maude say the character was based on?

Carolee Schneemann and Yoko Ono: the actress said Maude drew on Schneemann, a performance artist who 'worked naked from a swing', and on Ono's avant-garde art.

Which actor did the Coens originally consider for the role of the Dude?

Mel Gibson was considered for the Dude before Jeff Bridges took the part; Bridges himself hesitated, worried that playing a pot-smoking slacker would set a bad example for his daughters.

Where did most of the Dude's wardrobe come from?

Jeff Bridges' own closet supplied most of the Dude's wardrobe: Bridges picked out clothes he thought the character would wear, so the Dude's look is largely the actor's own.

The Dude was originally scripted to drive a smaller car. Why did it become a Ford Torino?

The script had a Chrysler LeBaron, which the Dude's real-life inspiration really had owned.

Which actor plays Walter Sobchak?

John Goodman plays Walter Sobchak, the Dude's hot-headed bowling partner and Vietnam veteran; Goodman had already worked with the Coens on Raising Arizona.

Why does Walter say he cannot bowl on Saturdays?

He is shomer Shabbos: Walter converted to Judaism for his ex-wife Cynthia and keeps the Sabbath, so he will not drive, handle money or roll from Friday sundown to Saturday night.

Which actor plays Donny, the bowling partner Walter keeps telling to shut up?

Steve Buscemi plays Theodore Donald 'Donny' Kerabatsos, the gentle third member of the bowling team; the Coens cast the usually motor-mouthed Buscemi as a character who is constantly told to shut up.

How does Donny die?

A heart attack during the nihilist fight: while Walter bites off a nihilist's ear in the bowling-alley parking lot, Donny clutches his chest, collapses and dies.

What do the Dude and Walter put Donny's ashes in, rather than pay for an urn?

A coffee can — a Folgers can — because the funeral home wanted $180 for its cheapest urn; when Walter scatters the ashes from a cliff, the wind blows them back over the Dude.

Which actress plays Maude Lebowski?

Julianne Moore plays Maude Lebowski, the Big Lebowski's feminist-artist daughter, delivering her lines in a clipped mid-Atlantic accent and painting while swinging naked overhead in a harness.

Why does Maude sleep with the Dude?

She wants a child by a father she can ignore: Maude tells the Dude she chose him because she has no wish to see the father socially or to let him have any say in raising the baby.

Who plays Brandt, the Big Lebowski's obsequious assistant?

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Brandt, the fawning, giggling aide who walks the Dude past the millionaire's wall of photographs, a year after Boogie Nights made Hoffman's name.

Which actress plays Bunny Lebowski, the millionaire's young wife who is 'apparently kidnapped'?

Tara Reid plays Bunny Lebowski, the trophy wife who greets the Dude while painting her toenails by the pool and turns out to have simply driven to Palm Springs without telling anyone.

What does the envelope from the kidnappers contain, supposedly from Bunny?

A severed toe with green nail polish arrives as proof the kidnappers mean business; Walter is unimpressed, insisting he can get you a toe by three o'clock this afternoon, with nail polish.

What does the Dude find in his recovered car that leads him to a teenager's house?

It is signed by Larry Sellers, whose father wrote for Branded.

Walter attacks a Corvette outside Larry's house with a crowbar. Whose car is it really?

The neighbour retaliates on the Dude's Torino, and the nihilists later set what is left of it on fire.

Which of these musicians plays one of the German nihilists?

Peter Stormare and Torsten Voges are the others; Aimee Mann plays the nihilist girlfriend who supplies the toe.

Who plays Jesus Quintana, the purple-clad rival bowler?

John Turturro plays Jesus Quintana; the Coens built the character around a flamboyant role Turturro had played in Mi Puta Vida at New York's Public Theater in 1988.

Which cover of 'Hotel California' accompanies Jesus Quintana's entrance?

The Gipsy Kings' Spanish-language rumba cover of 'Hotel California' plays as Jesus Quintana licks his bowling ball and struts down the lane in purple.

Who plays the Stranger, the cowboy narrator who chats with the Dude at the bar?

Sam Elliott plays the Stranger, the drawling cowboy narrator introduced over 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds', who shares a sarsaparilla with the Dude at the bowling-alley bar.

Which pornographer, played by Ben Gazzara, drugs the Dude's drink?

Jackie Treehorn, the Malibu pornographer played by Ben Gazzara, spikes the Dude's White Russian at his beach house, sending him into the bowling dream sequence.

The Dude's drugged dream sequences are staged in the style of which Hollywood choreographer?

Busby Berkeley's kaleidoscopic 1930s musical numbers are the model: the 'Gutterballs' dream has chorus girls in bowling-pin headdresses and the Dude gliding between their legs down the lane.

Which Bob Dylan song plays over the opening titles?

'The Man in Me', from Bob Dylan's 1970 album New Morning, plays over the opening credits as bowlers roll, and returns during the Dude's first dream sequence.

Which Dude line reportedly persuaded Allen Klein to let the film use 'Dead Flowers'?

When the Dude said 'I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!' at a screening, Allen Klein, who controlled the Rolling Stones' 'Dead Flowers' and had wanted $150,000, stood up and said 'That's it, you can have the song'.

What kind of music accompanies the German nihilists on the soundtrack?

Techno-pop in the Kraftwerk manner accompanies the German nihilists — their old band is even called Autobahn, after Kraftwerk's 1974 album — while the Dude gets Creedence.

Which composer, the Coens' regular collaborator since Blood Simple, wrote the score?

Carter Burwell wrote the score, as he has for most Coen films since Blood Simple, while T Bone Burnett assembled the soundtrack's pop and country songs.

What was the film's production budget?

The $15 million budget came from PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Working Title Films, the same backers as Fargo, with Gramercy Pictures releasing the film in the United States.

What does Walter's 'ringer' briefcase contain at the ransom drop?

His dirty underwear — 'the whites' — fills the ringer Walter swaps for the million-dollar briefcase, planning to hand the kidnappers the decoy and keep the money.

In which city did Lebowski Fest begin in 2002, with 150 fans showing up?

Louisville, Kentucky hosted the first Lebowski Fest in 2002, when founders Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt drew about 150 fans for a screening, costume contest and bowling.

What is the official name of the religion Dudeism, founded in 2005?

The Church of the Latter-Day Dude is Dudeism's formal name; Oliver Benjamin, an American journalist living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, founded it in 2005 as a modern take on Taoism.

Roughly how many Dudeist priests had been ordained worldwide by May 2017?

450,000 — by May 2017 Dudeism had ordained over 450,000 priests online, and its annual Day of the Dude falls on March 6, the film's US release date.

In which year was The Big Lebowski added to the US National Film Registry?

2014: the Library of Congress selected The Big Lebowski for the National Film Registry in December 2014, four years after Roger Ebert had added it to his 'Great Movies' list.

The 2019 spin-off The Jesus Rolls reimagines which 1974 French film?

Going Places (Les Valseuses, 1974), Bertrand Blier's road movie with Gérard Depardieu, is the basis for The Jesus Rolls, in which a paroled Jesus Quintana goes on a crime spree with Bobby Cannavale and Audrey Tautou.

The film's structure is loosely modelled on the detective fiction of which author?

Raymond Chandler: the Coens wanted a Chandler-style Los Angeles story whose hapless hero is dragged from one eccentric character to the next, and the title echoes The Big Sleep.

How long did principal photography take, in and around Los Angeles in early 1997?

Eleven weeks: principal photography began in January 1997 and wrapped in April in and around Los Angeles, with the bowling sequences taking three of those weeks.

Jeff Bridges reprised the Dude for which beer brand's Super Bowl LIII commercial in 2019?

Stella Artois paired the Dude with Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw in its 2019 Super Bowl ad, both swapping their signature drinks for the Belgian lager.

Who was the cinematographer on The Big Lebowski?

Roger Deakins, the Coens' regular cinematographer, lit the night exteriors with an orange sodium-vapour look instead of conventional blue moonlight, linking the gritty scenes to the dream sequences.

At which festival did The Big Lebowski premiere on January 18, 1998?

Sundance, in Park City, Utah, hosted the premiere at the Eccles Theatre; the film then competed at the Berlin Film Festival before its US release on March 6, 1998.

The Coens wrote The Big Lebowski at around the same time as which of their films?

Ethan said the Dude-Walter dynamic grew out of the scenes between Barton Fink and Charlie Meadows; Fargo got made in the meantime.

All the bowling sequences were shot over three weeks at which alley?

Hollywood Star Lanes, on Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood, hosted three weeks of bowling shooting; the alley closed in 2002 and was demolished to make way for a school.

Larry Sellers's father wrote for which TV western that Walter reveres?

Branded, the 1965 western starring Chuck Connors, is the show Walter credits to Arthur Digby Sellers — 'the bulk of the series' — before grilling the silent Larry about the money.

Peter Exline, a partial model for the Dude, played which sport before the Coens made it bowling?

Softball: Exline played in an amateur softball league, but the Coens switched the sport to bowling because its social setting lets players sit, drink and smoke 'while engaging in inane conversation'.

Which actor passed on the 'Big' Lebowski role, not wanting to play an American?

Anthony Hopkins turned down the Big Lebowski, saying he did not want to play an American, and the part went to David Huddleston, the character actor who played Olson Johnson in Blazing Saddles.

Which composer's music did Jack Kehler pick for landlord Marty's dance performance?

Mussorgsky: Kehler picked Pictures at an Exhibition from the three or four pieces the Coens offered and rehearsed Marty's interpretive dance in three three-hour sessions.

Jackie Treehorn's house scenes were shot in a 1963 Hollywood Hills home by which architect?

John Lautner designed the Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Beverly Crest, Los Angeles, in 1963; its concrete-and-glass living room has appeared in many films and music videos since.