Over 25 years after the debut of The Big Lebowski, Sam Elliott talked about recently reunited with Jeff Bridges at the 2023 SAG Awards in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
Elliott, 78, spoke of the Sunday gathering in Los Angeles by saying, “I’m sitting with Jeff at the table and I haven’t seen Jeff in quite a while.” “I’m very glad to be with him,” she said.
In the Coen brothers’ 1998 cult classic crime-comedy film, Bridges, 73, portrayed the lead character Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski. The narrator of the film, portrayed by Elliott, is “The Stranger,” who hangs out at the bar of the bowling alley that the Dude frequently visits with his friends.
The Big Lebowski, which also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, and John Goodman, chronicles the escapades of Jeff Bridges’ slacker character after he is mistaken for a man who owes Jackie Treehorn money (Ben Gazzara).
Elliott won the SAG Award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or limited series, while Bridges was nominated for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series (The Old Man) (1883).
After reading his victory speech from a piece of paper he pulled out of his pocket, Elliott remarked on stage, “I wonder if anybody else is going to read anything today.” “Since I didn’t anticipate being up here, I’m doing this. There are only 43 seconds left for me to say this, but I’ve already used up half of them.”
After recently getting the most significant honour of my 55-year career from a group of my peers, he added, “What can I say in 45 seconds?” “Many of whom I don’t even know, or only know as a fan of their work from a distance. Not enough time to conclude.”
Elliott continued, “But I can thank you and I can tell you that I’m grateful and honoured to be in your presence, whether in this crowd or at home. I’m not sure I should be standing here after viewing the work of my fellow nominees, but I’m sure I’ll get over that.
He mentioned his new honor to his fellow performers, saying, “Since it was given to me by all of you, my SAG-AFTRA brothers and sisters, I will cherish this person. As a continual reminder of 1883 and what a gift it was for all of us on both sides of the camera, I’ll hold onto it with great affection.”
During a segment on the Today show in 2018, Bridges, Goodman, 70, and Buscemi, 65, commemorated The Big Lebowski’s 20th anniversary.
But did it actually seem like twenty years had gone by?
“It both does and does not. It’s peculiar, “When he said that, Goodman. A entire generation is currently experiencing this for the first time, including college-age students.
Buscemi remembers not understanding why Bridges and Goodman’s characters were so cruel to his Donny, despite the fact that he concurred with Goodman that the writing was amusing.
I thought that was really kind of wild and weird and amusing, I loved it,” he exclaimed. “But, I must admit that I didn’t understand the part of Donny as I was reading it. I felt sorry for the man and was depressed. Why Walter bullies him so much, I wondered. The ashes are then my favorite scene.”