Actor/director and on-screen bowling legend John Turturro is seeking permission from the Coen brothers to helm a spin-off of The Big Lebowski, which will apparently centre on his cult, bowling-ball polishing, pederast character Jesus Quintana, who “did six months in Chino for exposing himself to an eight-year-old”.
“If I can get the permission I need, I’d like to return to that role,” Turturro recently announced to applause at Taormina Festival. It could be an uphill battle: save for Noah Hawley’s Fargo TV series, the Coen brothers have never themselves done a sequel or given permission for a spinoff from any of their properties. While it’s all speculation at this point, it’s fair to assume Turturro has at least mentioned the idea to Joel & Ethan Coen. The tentative release date would be 2015, with Turturro purportedly helming the feature.
Fans of the restitution comedy are already bowled over. “I would watch a two hour movie of this guy buying groceries and doing his laundry,” said one commenter on Reddit. “But if he gets cleared, he should consider doing webisodes... Something tells me Jesus is best served up in small, tasty bites.”
If it’s anything like his latest feature, the awkward pimp-comedy Fading Gigolo co-starring Woody Allen (… as the pimp), it could be a journey into turbulent waters. However, if Turturro has his heart set on the spin-off, fans will surely be lining up to lap it up. As they say, “Nobody fucks with the Jesus”. Let’s just hope it won’t co-star any eight-year-olds.