Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Not a lot of news hits on Sundays, but I figured there are enough of you checking back to see if there's anything a movie fan can sink his or her teeth in to that I owed a link to an interesting article. Jeff "The Dude" Dowd is one element of Jeff Bridges' character in the Coens' THE BIG LEBOWSKI, just as John Milius is one element to John Goodman's Walter character. Both of those characters are their own, but were inspired by real life players in the lives of the Brothers Coen. I've had the good fortune to speak with Jeff Dowd a few times. The Dude is a sales agent, cheerleader and sometimes producer of indie film and has been active as long as I've been attending festivals, kind of the opposite of Bridges' Jeffrey Lebowski, but if you ever have the chance to meet The Dude in person you'll see small elements, be it body language or something more subtle, that made it into one of the Coen Bros' best films. Now that Bridges is the favorite for Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards it looks like Dowd has written what could be described as a love letter to Bridges and his career. I love Bridges as an actor and I think he's great in CRAZY HEART, even if I think the picture itself loses a lot of steam around the middle. While I'm just okay on the film, it's one of those performances (and history of performances) where I'm okay if Bridges takes the award. Check out The Dude's story at the LA Times Blog: CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE LA TIMES SITE AND READ THE DUDE LOVE UP (you mean coitus?) ON JEFF BRIDGES! While we're at it, why not head over to Bridges' own site and check out some of his Behind the Scenes photography? The man is an avid photographer and I hear he gives out books of his pictures to the cast and crew as wrap gifts. I'd LOVE to see his Lebowski book. On his site he has Crazy Heart, The Amateurs and Iron Man... You can see all three by clicking here or if all you care about is the big metal dude, his Iron Man photography is here. Not bad for a quiet Sunday morning, yeah? Enjoy! -Quint quint@aintitcool.com Follow Me On Twitter
