After winning Oscars for their 1996 film Fargo, the Coen brothers followed their highest box office earner at the time with the quirky comedy The Big Lebowski. It starred Jeff Bridges as an aging hippie/bowling enthusiast named Jeffrey Lebowski, better known as The Dude, who finds himself entangled in a case of mistaken identity that has "lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have yous" with his misfit friends (played by John Goodman and Steve Buscemi) after his rug is peed on. Written with Bridges, Goodman, Buscemi and co-stars John Turturro and Sam Elliott in mind for the roles they play, the Coens say the inspiration for the film came from their love of Raymond Chandler novels, noirs like The Big Sleep, and the handful of colorful people they knew out in Los Angeles. Namely, their Blood Simple producers rep Jeff Dowd, who along with his hippie demeanor has had the Dude nickname for most of his life.
Though its foul-mouthed dialogue left audiences in stitches (to use the parlance of our times), when it opened in March of '98 the film confused even the most diehard Coens fans and became a box office disappointment.
As years past and the film made its way on DVD, you could find groups in corners of bars and bowling allies trading their favorite lines as they sipped White Russians. And as quickly as you could scream Shomer Shabbos!, the film had taken on a cult following which has spawned midnight screenings, a religion known as Dudeism (not kidding, www.dudeism.com) and the successful Lebowski Fest, created by Louisville, Kentucky natives Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt, who are also the authors of I'm A Lebowski, You're A Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You (Bloomsbury). Covering the fandom surrounding the film, the book is filled with everything from tips on how to Dudeify your life – like, making sure your car has Credence tapes and In-N-Out Burger wrappers in it at all times and securing your home by nailing a two-by-four near your front door – interviews from name cast members all the way down to the guy who played Smokey and the other girl in Logjammin', to highlighting the Achievers (and proud we are of all them): people who are so obsessed with the film that calling them fans is an insult.
With Universal releasing a special 10th Anniversary DVD this month (complete with bowling ball packaging), we decided to talk to Russell and Shuffitt about the film, its growing popularity, and what have you.
It's been ten years since the release of The Big Lebowski, why has the film built such a rabid cult following?
Russell: We still haven't figured that out.
Shuffitt: Actually, I have an answer. [pause] Because it's the greatest film ever made.
Well, I'll just move on to my next question...
Russell: [laughs] Actually, it's such a great movie that's so quotable and its got such great characters. It's one of those movies that you can watch over and over and over again and it's still a great time.
And that's how you guys got the idea to create Lebowski Fest, after trading memorable lines from the film?
Shuffitt: Yeah. It's kind of like the secret language of Lebowski. If you're hanging out at a bar and you sit down and say, "Two oat sodas, Gary," and the dude next to you chuckles a little bit then you know he's a fan of The Big Lebowski. It's a community thing, it's one thing that brings people together.
Lebowski Fest founders Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt
Russell: Yeah, the Achievers are everywhere and I think part of the appeal of the movie is that not everybody gets it. A lot of people watch the movie and say "I don't get this, this is not any good." And we just shrug and say, "I'm sorry you're an amateur."
They are not an Achiever.
Russell: You have failed to achieve even in the modest task that was your charge. But it's cool like that. It's good to know that not everyone is into it but there are people that get the movie and probably get you.
Do you guys remember the first time you saw the film?
Shuffitt: I didn't see it until it came out on video. I was a Coens fan. I was a huge fan of Raising Arizona, but Bill Green, the guy who does all of our art work, he saw Lebowski in the theater and said, "Dude, you need to check this movie out," so I think he actually bought it for me as a Christmas gift and I saw it and I said "Yeah, this is my kind of movie." It stayed in my VCR for probably a year and a half and that's basically all I watched.
Russell: I saw it at a little theater in Louisville, it wasn't the weekend it came out, I think my dad recommended it to me and I remember I liked it alright but I was just like okay, that was kind of interesting but I didn't really have any passionate feelings about it necessarily. It was only the third time that I saw it when I was like "Wow, this is the funniest movie I've ever seen in my life." I think it takes a few times because the first time a lot of people watch it they get caught up in the plot and none of that stuff really matters.
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