One of the most prolific cult films of the 1990s was the one and only The Big Lewboski. A movie that followed Jeff Bridges’ character “The Dude” who was a hedonistic bowler living in Los Angeles that gets caught up in a mess of kidnapping and ransom has become one of the most iconic films for the last 20 years. Both the film and Bridges’ character has had such a profound impact on some that it has spawned its own religion known as “Dudeism”. There has never really been talk about a sequel, as the Coen brothers always find themselves busy moving on to make another acclaimed film, recently off of the heels of their Academy Award nominated The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, but this may not be the case after all.
At 9 o’clock this morning, a video was tweeted from Jeff Bridges’ official Twitter account that had the caption, “Can’t be living in the past, man. Stay tuned.” The video shows a much older version of “The Dude” walk up to a mess of broken glass and debris before halting. We get a shot traveling from the floor upwards, displaying the same jelly sandals, baggy pants, and oversized cardigan that Bridges’ wore in 1998’s The Big Lewboski. Bridges’ stumbles around a bit before looking into the camera, chortling, and walking off. The last seconds of the short video show a tumbleweed moving across a sidewalk and revealing the date of February 3rd of this year.
There a number of possibilities of what this could ultimately be, but with February 3rd being the date when something grander is revealed tells that this will lead into a commercial during this year’s super bowl, which is set for that same date. Being one of the largest and most viewed sporting events in the country which is known for companies pouring millions into having their ads shown during commercial breaks, this would definitely be a way to turn heads and garner loads of attention for a sequel to the cult classic. With the Coen brothers explicitly stating they would never make a sequel, it does not seem likely that one will be revealed.
Utilizing a quite popular character from cinema for advertisement purposes isn’t something we’ve never seen before, but to do so a little over twenty years after the fact makes it seem a tad late to do such. With the droning music, murmur of voices, and sound of glass moving in the background, it could be likely that this will be an ad for an alcohol company. One of the things that “The Dude” has been known for is his love of alcoholic drinks, specifically the White Russian. Therefore it would come as no surprise that he would become the poster boy for an alcohol company’s ad with numerous companies using mascots such as “The Most Interesting Man In The World” for Dos Equis beer or “Captain Morgan” for the titular rum conglomerate. It could run as something similar to the fake trailers for Dundee at last year’s super bowl.
At the bottom of the video there is a copyright for “Universal City Studios” referring to the film and entertainment company, heightening chances for this to be a film property, even if not a direct sequel to the original. Italian-American filmmaker John Turturro, who played Jesus Quintana in The Big Lewboski, has been working on a film he wrote, directed, and starred in titled Going Places. It will be based on the 1974 buddy film of the same name and be a spin-off film of The Big Lewboski where Turturro stars as his character Quintana. The Coen brothers gave Turturro the right to use the character but neither them nor any other character of the original will be involved (as evidence by the IMDB list of cast), “The Dude” included. Thus, it would be a stretch for this to be a trailer for the film, set to release sometime this year, yet it could be a method of gaining attention for his film by using Bridges’ slacker character in advertisements.
Regardless of what this 15 second clip might allude to, we here at Mxdwn movies will have our eyes peeled for all the big movie news and trailers premiering at this year’s super bowl.
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