Hardto imagine, with the plethora of Lebowski fests and the popularity of WhiteRussians, that The Big Lebowski was largely overlooked at the time of itsrelease (1998). Since then, it has become (along with Fargo) the signature filmby the Coen brothers.
Thebook released to coincide with the movie, William Preston Robertson’s The BigLebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film, was probably remaindered withinmonths. It’s back on the racks in a new paperback edition from W.W. Norton withan afterword allowing the author to reflect upon the vagaries of success.
Ashe explains, Robertson was a college buddy of Joel and Ethan Coen and becametheir sidekick once they turned to filmmaking. He was often “the onlysanctioned reporter” on set. Since he was going to be hanging around theproduction of The Big Lebowski, a movie he claims he advised them not to make,Ethan’s wife, Tricia Cooke, suggested he write a how-to-manual (hopefullysupplementing the dreadful textbooks used in film schools) disguised as a movietie-in.
Theresulting book is a garrulous account of the Coen brothers full of stories onlya sidekick could know. Facing writer’s block while working on Miller’sCrossing, they retired to Robertson’s house for a week of coffee drinking anddonut eating—while listening to the Clancy Brothers and watching “Jeopardy.”Somehow, it must have cleared their heads. They didn’t immediately finishMiller’s Crossing but dashed off a screenplay about writer’s block, BartonFink.
Trueto his stated purpose, Robertson gets into some of the filmmaking nitty-gritty:the Coens obsessively storyboard every scene in advance, which saves time andmoney in production; they love wide angle lenses for the freedom it gives themto compose scenes. And The Big Lebowski was actually based on real characters, whichthe Coens placed in a Raymond Chandleresque universe. They cite Robert Altman’sadaptation of a Chandler novel, The Long Goodbye, as inspiration.
Alongwith their inscrutable humor, the Coens are “consummate professionals with ameticulous sense of planning, a confidence of vision from page to screen, and avacuum-packed, if not anal retentive, sense of quality control.” Theirproductions have none of the egomania characteristic of wannabe auteurs. Calmpervaded the set of The Big Lebowski as the Coens prepared their surreal takeon American culture and homage to film noir.
