For years John Turturro has been trying to get the Coen Brothers' blessing to do a spinoff featuring his character from The Big Lebowski, Jesus Quintana. They have not been receptive. Here's what they told Empire earlier this year...
“Turturro keeps urging us to do the ‘Jesus’ spin-off of his character. Yeah, uh huh...People have been asking us about a sequel to ‘The Big Lebowski,’ for years, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
That tells me Turturro is moving ahead on his own without their support, because BMD says he is a couple of weeks into directing Going Places, his spinoff of The Big Lebowski. Uh, could we see lawsuits spring out of this, maybe? Anyway, Turturro is directing the story which is based on the 1974 French film, Les valseuses. Also starring Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou and Susan Sarandon, the New York-set film follows thieves Jesus and Petey as they hook up with a woman who desperately wants to have an orgasm.
Yuck. I could maybe see why the Coens don't want any part of this. Who knows? Maybe this movie never sees the light of day? It will be very interesting to learn what they think of Turturro's project and if there is some conflict brewing as a result.
