JEFF BRIDGES: "Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I'm the dude, man."
[MUSIC UP]
Have you seen the movie?
A long time ago. I don't remember it real well, but...
[MUSIC DOWN] [COUGHING] Anybody want a hit
of this before we go any further? [MUSIC UP]
Nor do I and I saw just last night.
[MUSIC UP] [BOWLING SFX]
REDHEAD TATTED GIRL: We were walking up to The Wiltern, my friends like,
"That's...that's him, that's The Dude." He's losing his mind,
like freaking out. "What do you mean The Dude? What's happening?" There's people everywhere,
things going on and he's, like, "The Dude. The movie. It's based on that man right there."
ARTIST LADY: Immediately I was super comfortable around him because I'm f**king nuts.
JEFF DOWD: Did you ever have a feeling that you're, like, a Ferrari in a parking lot,
ready to go and you're dying of terminal boredom at your work or where you're living?
We can change that.
It's like glorifying a loser, but like, in the best romanticizing it.
[CROWD SOUNDS UP] Did you ever really get roofied?
Yeah. I lost the entire '80's.
[BOWLING SOUNDS] [PHONE RINGS]
JEFF DOWD: I get a phone call...
JEFF BRIDGES: "Hello?" JEFF DOWD: ...and it's Joel and Ethan.
"Dude, duder, dudarino, we're doing this movie with Jeff Bridges and John Goodman.
There's going to be a Dude character in it," and if you look at me, look, I'm on the cusp.
It could go either way, right? I mean, you know, and if it's John Goodman...I'm going,
"Holy sh*t." They go, "Don't worry, Dude. It's Jeff Bridges." I go, "Thank you guys."
[CAR DOOR SHUTS] "I did not know that."
QUESTION: Did he get The Dude character right? How'd they do on that front?
[MUSIC UP] JEFF DOWD: Physicality, things they could
have some fun with. The way he dances, the way he sits, the way he mumbles, you know,
etcetera. Um, then, they're going to take other things, things at my expense or
The Dude's expense, okay? So he's smoking a joint in the car, drops the roach, you know,
starts going like this and then crashes the car. That's Dude all the way.
[CAR CRASH SOUND] [MUSIC UP]
LEBOWSKI FEST HOST: And here we are, the dream that is Lebowski Fest.
We're in our 14th year. We've done almost a hundred Lebowski Fests all over the world.
JEFF DOWD: Yeah, maybe they don't take me seriously.
Um, you know, why would you take somebody serious who doesn't know what day it is?
Because I'm not just that Dude from Lebowski.
I'm a guy who's helped tons of people's careers.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC UP]
JEFF DOWD: Where else was The Dude? Just date me on someplace.
[BOWLING SOUNDS] JEFF DOWD: Back in 1980, '81, I helped
Robert Redford start the Sundance Institute. An investor from the first Coen Brother's
film was there and they're having to pitch this dark, dark movie that's in post called
"Blood Simple."
After five minutes of watching that movie, we said,
"These guys are going to be around for a long, long time."
JEFF DOWD: As Frank Daniel, Frank would say, "Entrance is everything."
Think of the entrances in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,"
the four first scenes. Think of Mel Gibson in...in, you know, on the roof in Venice,
grabbing the guy who's about to jump off the roof. "You wanna jump?! You wanna jump?! Okay,
I wanna jump too! Let's f**king jump! Come on!" He's crazier than the crazy guy, okay?
That's a billion dollar entrance for four movies.
Still got sound?
The character of The Dude is very laid back
and Jeff Dowd is not laid back, I wouldn't say.
He's an activist, you know. He's a fighter.
[EXPLOSIONS AND MACHINE GUN SOUNDS]
JEFF DOWD: What it's always been about and it still is about is racial equality and justice.
That came to a head with the Vietnam War.
I led 25,000 people in Seattle onto the freeway.
I shouldn't say I. Four or five of us were up front.
"You ever hear of the Seattle 7?"
"Hmm."
JEFF BRIDGES: "That was me." [MUSIC UP]
JEFF DOWD: The Nixon administration charged us with conspiracy to destroy federal property.
[JAIL DOOR SLAMMING SFX]
JEFF DOWD: We were put in jail for contempt of court. So when we did the contempt thing,
I unveiled a full size Nazi flag. For those of you who've never seen a Nazi flag, and
I'd never seen one before, it is unbelievably heavy symbols and we put it on an elevated bench.
[APPLAUSE SFX]
And I talked about he was being a good German. Those were the people who sat by
when stuff was moving in the wrong direction and didn't do anything.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC UP] [GAVEL SFX]
LADY IN A GARDEN: This man appeared to have no fear at all.
It came from a rabble-rouser personality, which is what he's got.
JEFF DOWD: The Dude has abandonment issues. I was abandoned from my mother's breast instantly
because her mother thought...hired a nurse, which they couldn't afford anyway and
she thought it was improper to have a kid breastfed and they had visiting hours.
So I didn't even get to see my parents, okay.
It's sometimes hard to decipher what he's saying. You have to...
JEFF DOWD: [shouts and mumbles]
[ICE CHEST AND ICE NOISE] [LAUGHS] But it's always really
worth paying attention and listening because there's really a valid thing there.
[MUSIC UP] No politician in the history of the world
of the world has ever been a leader, none of them. I'd blow everybody in West Hollywood
right now if you can name me one politician that was a leader.
JEFF DOWD: Eight percent sustainable energy with 57 percent solar.
My mother died in the hospital because they blew the handoff,
but yeah, O.J. also killed his wife, okay. Those are not mutually exclusive things. You have...anyhow,
the point is, communication bad, okay. Okay?
Right on.
[MUSIC DOWN]
JEFF DOWD: Let them see that I'm being filmed, okay,
so they don't think I'm a crazy beggar because that's the first quick thing they're gonna say.
Excuse me, folks?
You know, people come up to me all the time and they all say,
"I want to thank you so much," and I say, "You like the movie and stuff?"
They say, "Yeah, we like the movie. Thank you." I said, "Why?" They say, "Well, you
speak the truth," and in a world where so many people have to put on their costumes
and masks everyday, people appreciate that a lot.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC UP] What is the significance of
The Dude's character, mythologically? The Dude is a holy fool.
The best reference point is the jester in the royal court, in the king's court,
the one guy who told it like it was.
Everybody else would never say, "Hey, King, you know,
you're puttin' on a little weight here, you know."
So the holy fool is at a time when we need truth more than ever.
He's trying to get us to the truth in a funny way.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC UP]
The Dude abides.
[MUSIC STING]
JEFF DOWD: [VIOLENT COUGHING]