Editing The Big Lebowski (section)

=== Development ===
The Dude is mostly inspired by [[Jeff Dowd]], an American film producer and political activist the Coen brothers met while they were trying to find distribution for their first feature, ''[[Blood Simple]]''.<ref name="Green, Bill" />{{rp|90}}<ref name="HuffPostDowd">{{Cite news |last=Boardman |first=Madeline |title=Jeff Dowd, Real 'Big Lebowski' Dude, Talks White Russians, Jeff Bridges And Bowling |work=The Huffington Post |date=March 6, 2013 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/jeff-dowd-real-big-lebowski-dude_n_2814930.html |access-date=April 24, 2015 |archive-date=December 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225022623/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeff-dowd-real-big-lebowski-dude_n_2814930 |url-status=live }}</ref> Dowd had been a member of the [[Seattle Liberation Front|Seattle Seven]], liked to drink [[White Russian (cocktail)|white Russians]], and was known as "The Dude".<ref name="Green, Bill" />{{rp|91–92}} The Dude was also partly based on a friend of the Coen brothers, Peter Exline (now a member of the faculty at [[University of Southern California|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".<ref name="Bergan, Ronald" />{{rp|188}} Exline knew [[Barry Sonnenfeld]] from [[New York University]] and Sonnenfeld introduced Exline to the Coen brothers while they were trying to raise money for ''Blood Simple''.<ref name="Green, Bill" />{{rp|97–98}} Exline became friends with the Coens and in 1989, told them many stories from his own life, including some 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.<ref name="Green, Bill" />{{rp|99}} 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.<ref name="Green, Bill" />{{rp|100}}

Exline also belonged to an amateur softball league but the Coens changed it to bowling in the film, because "it's a very social sport where you can sit around and drink and smoke while engaging in inane conversation".<ref name="Bergan, Ronald" />{{rp|195}} The Coens met filmmaker [[John Milius]] when they were in Los Angeles making ''[[Barton Fink]]'' and incorporated his love of guns and the military into the character of Walter.<ref name="Bergan, Ronald" />{{rp|189}} Milius introduced the Coen Brothers to one of his best friends, Jim Ganzer, who also served as a source for creating Jeff Bridges' character.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.artnet.com/people/the-quest-for-ed-ruschas-secret-artwork-inspires-a-film-228504 |title=The Quest for Ed Ruscha's Rocky II – artnet News |first=Christie |last=Chu |date=January 23, 2015 |work=artnet News |access-date=July 19, 2015 |archive-date=December 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225022634/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-quest-for-ed-ruschas-secret-artwork-inspires-a-film-228504 |url-status=live }}</ref> Also known as the Dude,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.openingceremony.us/entry.asp?pid=5493 |title=The Real Dude: An Interview with Jim 'Jimmy'Z' Ganzer |work=openingceremony.us |access-date=July 19, 2015 |archive-date=May 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150513073339/http://www.openingceremony.us/entry.asp?pid=5493 |url-status=live }}</ref> Ganzer and his gang, typical Malibu surfers, served as inspiration as well for Milius's film ''[[Big Wednesday]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bleakley |first1=Sam |last2=Callahan |first2=J. S. |title=Surfing Tropical Beats |publisher=Alison Hodge Publishers |year=2012 |page=133 |isbn=978-0906720851 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9NT_dDXn9cC |access-date=February 22, 2023 |archive-date=March 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307165402/https://books.google.com/books?id=a9NT_dDXn9cC |url-status=live }}</ref>

Before David Huddleston was cast as "Big" Jeffrey Lebowski, the Coens considered [[Robert Duvall]] (who did not like the script), [[Anthony Hopkins]] (who was not interested in playing an American), [[Gene Hackman]] (who was taking a break from acting at the time), [[Jack Nicholson]] (who was not interested, he only wanted to portray [[Moses]]), [[Tommy Lee Jones]] (who was considered "too young"), [[Ned Beatty]], [[Michael Caine]], [[Bruce Dern]], [[James Coburn]], [[Charles Durning]], [[Jackie Cooper]], [[Fred Ward]], [[Richard Mulligan]], [[Rod Steiger]], [[Peter Boyle]], [[Lloyd Bridges]], [[Paul Dooley]], [[Pat Hingle]], [[Jonathan Winters]], [[Norman Mailer]], [[George C. Scott]], [[Jerry Falwell]], [[Gore Vidal]], [[Andy Griffith]], [[William F. Buckley]], and [[Ernest Borgnine]]; the Coens' top choice was [[Marlon Brando]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cinearchive.org/post/92676244775/our-friend-alex-belth-just-released-the-dudes|title=Our friend Alex Belth just released The Dudes...|date=March 15, 2015|website=cinearchive.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315043440/http://cinearchive.org/post/92676244775/our-friend-alex-belth-just-released-the-dudes |archive-date=March 15, 2015 }}</ref> [[Charlize Theron]] was considered for the role of Bunny Lebowski.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.shortlist.com/news/50-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-big-lebowski| title = The Big Lebowski: 50 facts you (probably) didn't know – Shortlist| date = August 6, 2021| access-date = July 21, 2021| archive-date = July 21, 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210721224823/https://www.shortlist.com/news/50-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-big-lebowski| url-status = live}}</ref> [[David Cross]] auditioned for the role of Brandt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2010/11/david_cross_on_all_his_roles.html|title=David Cross on All His Roles: Mr. Show, Arrested Development, and More|first=John|last=Sellers|date=November 3, 2010|website=Vulture|access-date=September 23, 2023|archive-date=October 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002231534/https://www.vulture.com/2010/11/david_cross_on_all_his_roles.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Multiple image
| total_width       = 420
| image1            = Jeff Bridges by Gage Skidmore 3.jpg
| image2            = John Goodman by Gage Skidmore.jpg
| image3            = Julianne Moore Cannes 2018 (cropped).jpg
| footer            = Left to right: [[Jeff Bridges]] (pictured in 2017), [[John Goodman]] (2016) and [[Julianne Moore]] (2018)
}}

According to Julianne Moore, the character of Maude was based on artist [[Carolee Schneemann]], "who worked naked from a swing", and on [[Yoko Ono]].<ref name="Ciment, Michel" />{{rp|156}} 

The character of Jesus Quintana, a bowling opponent of The Dude's team, was inspired in part by a performance the Coens had seen John Turturro give in 1988 at the Public Theater in a play called ''Mi Puta Vida'' in which he played a [[pederast]]-type character, "so we thought, let's make Turturro a pederast. It'll be something he can really run with," Joel said in an interview.<ref name="Bergan, Ronald" />{{rp|195}}

The film's overall structure was influenced by the detective fiction of [[Raymond Chandler]]. Ethan said, "We wanted something that would generate a certain narrative feeling – like a modern Raymond Chandler story, and that's why it had to be set in Los Angeles ... We wanted to have a narrative flow, a story that moves like a Chandler book through different parts of town and different social classes."<ref name="Levine, Josh" /> The use of the Stranger's voice-over also came from Chandler as Joel remarked, "He is a little bit of an audience substitute. In the movie adaptation of Chandler it's the main character that speaks off-screen, but we didn't want to reproduce that though it obviously has echoes. It's as if someone was commenting on the plot from an all-seeing point of view. And at the same time rediscovering the old earthiness of a [[Mark Twain]]."<ref name="Ciment, Michel" />{{rp|169}}

The significance of the bowling culture was, according to Joel, "important in reflecting that period at the end of the fifties and the beginning of the sixties. That suited the retro side of the movie, slightly anachronistic, which sent us back to a not-so-far-away era, but one that was well and truly gone nevertheless."<ref name="Ciment, Michel" />{{rp|170}}