By You might have heard that Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski of The Big Lebowski was based on a real person. (Much like Walter Sobchak, who was based on director John Milius.) The dude behind The Dude is Jeff Dowd, and the short documentary above gives you a nice snapshot of the man. It also makes you appreciate the way that Jeff Bridges channeled Dowd so well.
Directed by Jeff Feuerzeig (The Devil and Daniel Johnston, The Real Rocky), The Dude takes us through Dowd’s life in the counterculture, how he met the Coen Brothers, and what the real Dude does at a weekend-long Lebowski Fest.
The next film Dowd appears in needs to be a riff on My Dinner with Andre co-starring John Milius. They could call it My Lunch with Milius. It will make tens of dozens of dollars.
[/Film via First Showing]