Last month, news broke that John Turturro is directing and starring in a spin-off of The Big Lebowski based on his cult character, the pederast Jesus “The Jesus” Quintana. The movie began filming last month, but we’ve had scant visual evidence—save for a Susan Sarandon Instagram—of the new Jesus—until now.
Slam editor Abe Schardron spotted Turturro on the 4 train Tuesday morning, the actor’s hair in Jesus-style cornrows.
https://twitter.com/abe_squad/status/778246889892438016
So what about the actual movie? As Birth Movies Death reports, the film is called Going Places, it co-stars Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou and Susan Sarandon, and the Coens are NOT involved in any way. It’s also a remake of the 1974 French comedy Les Valseuses. Here’s the plot, as recapped by Birth Movies Death:
Petty thieves, Turturro’s Jesus and Cannavale’s Petey, compete to give a woman (Tautou) her first orgasm after she’s roped into their hijinks. Sarandon also ends up in their company, playing a criminal who just got out after a long stint in prison.
We have a lot of questions about the new flick. How will the it hold up compared to original? Will the Dude, Walter Sobchak, or any of the other characters from the Lebowski universe make cameos? (Jeff Bridges said in 2010 that he’d be open to a Lebowski sequel). Will we learn more about Jesus’s checkered past? Is Donny alive in this movie? Does he ever shut the fuck up?
A more important question: Did the Coen brothers even sign off on this movie? Indiewire notes Turturro may not have the intellectual-property rights to Jesus. Even so, we doubt Joel or Ethan would be too upset; after all, their working relationship with Turturro goes back to 1990’s Miller Crossing. He also worked with the Academy-Award-winning brothers on 1991’s Hollywood satire, Barton Fink, and 2000’s Depression-era nod to The Odyssey and bluegrass, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Big Lebowski is a classic movie you should (re)watch. Will we one day say the same about Going Places? Probably not–after all, how many real cult classics are there?–but we’re excited to see it anyway.
