Line #13 Trivia/TheBigLebowski


1	!! For the film:
2	* ActorInspiredElement:
3	** A lot of the Dude's clothes in ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' were Creator/JeffBridges' own clothes, including his Jellies sandals.
4	** Creator/JohnTurturro contributed a lot to Jesus - the nail, the hairnet, the licking of his bowling ball and using the device to shine his balls and his dance.
5	* ApprovalOfGod: When asked what his character would think about Dudeism, Creator/JeffBridges stated the Dude would be bemused but approving.
6	* {{Blooper}}: When the owner of the car Walter's smashing grabs the crowbar, his lips aren't moving despite the guy screaming his lungs out.
7	* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/TheCoenBrothers wrote the script with Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/SteveBuscemi, Creator/JohnTurturro and Creator/SamElliott in mind.
8	* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/JohnGoodman named this as his favourite of all the films he's been in.
9	* TheDanza: Despite The Dude's seeming similarity to Creator/JeffBridges, he is actually based on another friend of Creator/{{the Coen Brothers}}, Jeff "The Dude" Dowd. Dowd, Dude, and Bridges are all named Jeffrey.
10	* {{Defictionalization}}:
11	** Replicas of The Dude's Medina Sod bowling shirt and the Big Lebowski's "Person of the Year" mirror can easily be found for sale.
12	** ''Time Magazine'' even made a mirrored cover of their own for Person of the Year in 2006.
13	** The below-mentioned "Dudeism" is a recognized religion, and people have been married under it.
14	** In 2014, the Texas Supreme Court roundly rejected prior restraint [[https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/almID/1202784043813/A-Column-That-Really-Ties-the-Room-Together/ via quoting Walter Sobchak]].
15	* DyeingForYourArt: To develop the lazy, out of shape character of the Dude, Creator/JeffBridges let himself go physically.
16	* EnforcedMethodActing: During the dream sequence when the Dude is looking up at a series of dancing girls, the expression he wears on his face is the result of the extras (with the encouragement of Jeff Bridges' wife and daughter) having stuffed their briefs with hair to make it seem as though they had ungroomed nether regions.
17	* FakeNationality:
18	** The German nihilists played by Creator/PeterStormare (Swedish), [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Flea]] (Australian), and Aimee Mann (American). The fourth nihilist was played by an actual German, Torsten Voges.
19	** Jesus, who is Cuban American, is played by Italian-American actor Creator/JohnTurturro.
20	* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Creator/JeffBridges claims that he and John Goodman both ad-libbed most of their dialogue. Goodman denies it, and indeed the script is readily available online--most of the dialogue there is as it appears in the film, right down to the stutters. (Bridges did improvise ''some'' lines, however, such as "Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women" and "you human paraquat.")
21	* HideYourPregnancy: Creator/JulianneMoore was pregnant during the filming, but didn't tell anyone because she wanted to do the painting in harness scene herself.
22	* HypotheticalCasting: Creator/TheCoenBrothers originally wanted Creator/MarlonBrando for Jeffrey Lebowski. They even amused themselves by quoting some of their favourite Jeffrey Lebowski lines ("Strong men also cry") in a Brando imitation.
23	* MagnumOpusDissonance: In a rare Coen Brothers interview in 2009, Joel Coen flatly stated, "That movie has more of an enduring fascination for other people than it does for us."
24	* MethodActing: Creator/JeffBridges would ask Creator/TheCoenBrothers if The Dude had smoked a joint between scenes. If they answered yes, then he'd rub his eyes until they looked red.
25	* PlayingAgainstType:
26	** To some degree, Creator/JohnGoodman as Walter Sobchak. His characters, when not directed by Creator/{{the Coen Brothers}}, tend to be nice, huggable, jolly guys. Walter is anything but. Which nearly became his type. Goodman said in an interview that a lot of the roles offer to him post-''Lebowski'' were variations of the blustering Walter character.
27	** Also, Creator/SteveBuscemi's role as a clueless, laid-back slacker who can't get a word in edgewise was written as a jokey inversion of the motor-mouthed psychopath types he'd played in ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' and ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. Walter's oft-repeated line "shut the fuck up Donny!" is precisely ''because'' Buscemi's character wouldn't shut up in ''Fargo.''
28	* TheRedStapler: The White Russian has become somewhat legitimized as a "guy" drink thanks to this movie, as most people nowadays will just assume a man ordering one is a fan of The Dude.
29	* ReleaseDateChange: Originally scheduled for a Christmas 1997 release, Polygram moved the film out of the crowded holiday frame to March 1998, where it opened in the same frame as ''Film/{{Fargo}}''.
30	* ShrugOfGod: Jimmie Dale Gilmore (Smokey) admits he has been asked over a hundred times whether he stepped over the line or not when his character bowled. Gilmore says he knows, but the answer is a secret that he will take to his grave.
31	* ThrowItIn: In an interview with ''Magazine/RollingStone'', Creator/JohnGoodman stated that The Dude referring to The Big Lebowski as a "human paraquat" was one of the only improvised lines to make it into the final film. Virtually every other line, including every "man", "dude", and "uh", was scripted.
32	* UncreditedRole: Former porn star Asia Carrera appears uncredited as the other woman in Bunny's film "Logjammin'". She would earn her SAG card from the film with the Coen Brothers ensuring that she had a line of dialogue.
33	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
34	** In the original script, the Dude's car was a Chrysler [=LeBaron=], as Jeff Dowd had once owned, but that car was not big enough to fit John Goodman so the Coens changed it to a Ford Torino.
35	** In the original script, it was revealed that Walter was never actually a Vietnam veteran. Following Donny's funeral, the Dude was to yell at Walter, "You were never fucking in Vietnam, Walter".
36	** Creator/CharlizeTheron auditioned for Bunny.
37	** Names tossed around for the Big Lebowski included Creator/RobertDuvall (who didn't like the script), Creator/AnthonyHopkins (who passed since he had no interest in playing an American), and Creator/GeneHackman (who was taking a break at the time). A second "wish list" included an oddball "who's who," including Creator/ErnestBorgnine, Creator/NormanMailer, Creator/GeorgeCScott and Creator/GoreVidal.
38	** Creator/MelGibson tried out for the part of the Dude.
39	** Creator/DavidCross auditioned for the role of Brandt. He told Vulture:
40	-->I auditioned for ''The Big Lebowski'' and I thought I did a really good job. But then I saw what Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman did with the part, and I was like, "Oh- that's the way to do it".
41	** Creator/PeterStormare's character, Uli, was named Dieter in the original script. Why this was changed isn't clear, but may have been because Stormare played a character named Dieter the previous year in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark''.
42	* WriteWhoYouKnow:
43	** The Dude is mostly inspired by Jeff Dowd, an American film producer and political activist Creator/TheCoenBrothers met while they were trying to find distribution for ''Film/BloodSimple''. Dowd had been a member of the Seattle Seven, liked to drink White Russians, and was known as "The Dude". The Dude was also partly based on a friend of the Coen brothers, Peter Exline (now a member of the faculty at USC's School of Cinematic Arts), a Vietnam War veteran who reportedly lived in a dump of an apartment and was proud of a little rug that "tied the room together". Exline knew Creator/BarrySonnenfeld from New York University and Sonnenfeld introduced Exline to the Coen brothers while they were trying to raise money for ''Blood Simple''.Exline became friends with the Coens and in 1989, told them all kinds of stories from his own life, including ones about his actor-writer friend Lewis Abernathy (one of the inspirations for Walter), a fellow Vietnam vet who later became a private investigator and helped him track down and confront a high school kid who stole his car. As in the film, Exline's car was impounded by the Los Angeles Police Department and Abernathy found an 8th grader's homework under the passenger seat.
44	** Walter was based on Creator/JohnMilius, who the Coens met in Los Angeles while making ''Film/BartonFink''. An infamously bombastic right-winger with an obsession with all things militaristic, and an enthusiasm for guns, his girth, beard, hair style, and shades are also all reflected in Walter's physical appearance. Milius introduced the Coens to one of his best friends, Jim Ganzer, also known as the Dude.
45
46	!! For the pinball:
47	* PreOrderBonus: Or early purchase bonus, rather - a ''Lebowski''-themed small rug (complete with bowling references) that can be placed under the game.
48	* RealSongThemeTune: The game includes songs from the actual movie soundtrack, including Music/BobDylan’s "The Man in Me," Music/KennyRogers' "Just Dropped In," and Music/{{Santana}}'s "''Oye Como Va.''"

Context Trivia / TheBigLebowski