Look, we all know that I’m a Lebowski, you’re a Lebowski, and the whole world is full of little Lebowskis (and proud we are of all of them). But, within that holistic universality of Lebowski-ness, surely there is – there must be – some kind of Lebowski hierarchy, a ranking of sorts, in which one’s essence of Lebowski can be measured against the Lebowski essence of another.
What I’m trying to say is, what the fuck is Michael Fassbender doing playing Jeffrey “The Dude” (or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) Lebowski?
Yes, Michael Fassbender, the chiseled actor who wowed audiences with his intensity as a maligned holocaust-surviving mutant, puzzled audiences with his emotionless affect as an android on a dangerous new planet, and flashed audiences with his penis as a sex-addicted Manhattan executive.
Fassbender will join director Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno) and comedian Patton Oswalt (twitter rants) for a live reading of the Coen Brother’s neo-classic slacker comedy at this year’s Just For Laughs festival. There he will play the titular Lebowski, opposite Oswalt’s Shomer Fucking Shabbos Walter Sobchak, as fans of the film watch on in (what I can only assume will be) bemused confusion. Not that that’s stopped Reitman from getting excited about the reading. As he tells EW:
“I heard from Simon Kinberg, who’s in Montreal now producing X-Men: Apocalypse, that not only is Fassbender an enormous fan of The Big Lebowski, but he apparently quotes it daily […] Unlike other Live-Reads where I have a decent sense of how, for instance, Seth Rogen going to play The Dude, I have no idea how Fassbender will do it. But he’s one of the our greatest performers, he’s on the current Mount Rushmore of actors, so I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.”
Truthfully, I have no idea whether Fassy will be able to nail the stoner-zen for which Jeff Bridges’ Jeffrey Lebowski is famous. But, I’m sure as hell curious to see how it’ll shake out. Even if it’s a complete train-wreck, it’ll at least be an interesting one.
But that’s just, like, my opinion, man.
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