New shit has come to light! Though the sequel-phobic Coen brothers have repeatedly denied any plans to make a sequel to their bowling-noir cult favourite The Big Lebowski, John Turturro has had other ideas. The actor, who played The Dude’s creepy bowling rival Jesus Quintana in the 1998 original, is reprising the character for a new film entitled Going Places, and we’ve been given our first look at Jesus, 2016 vintage.
Nobody, so they say, fucks with the Jesus, and that continues to be the case. The personally-embroidered bowling shirt may be gone, but the bling, goatee and hairnet are all still present and correct – as is Jesus’ natural habitat, the bowling alley.
The Coens are not involved in the project, but they have given Turturro – who is also writing and directing – their blessing. The film is partly inspired by the 1974 French sex comedy Les Valseuses, and will see three small time crooks “inadvertently performing good deeds”, with smidgens of surprising romance thrown in. It’s unclear whether the character’s alluded past of sexual impropriety will be brought up. (“Eight-year-olds, Dude.”)
Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, Susan Sarandon and Sonia Braga are starring, and filming took place in the summer. Though the project has no distributor attached yet, the levels of Lebowski fan mania means it will not struggle to see a release at some point in the not-too-distant future. The Dude abides – and so, surely, does Jesus.