ICYMI, actor John Turturro has brought back the character of Jesus from the cult film The Big Lebowski, for a spin-off aptly titled The Jesus Rolls (pun intended). The purple-jumpsuit bowler Jesus has earned himself quite the sub-cult following from The Big Lebowski’s huge fanbase of abiding dudes.
The film is expected to hit cinemas next week, but with all the coronavirus chaos, who knows what will be happening. Nevertheless, in a recent interview, Turturro dropped some absolute gems about the making of the film, including filming sex scenes and receiving racy letters.
John Turturro discusses directing, starring, and bringing back Jesus, in upcoming The Big Lebowski spin-off film, The Jesus Rolls.
Speaking in an interview with Rolling Stone, the 63-year-old actor described that the number of times people have quoted Jesus lines back to him is incalculable. Naturally, it makes sense as to why Turturro is bringing the purple bowling icon back to the big screens.
Previously, Turturro mentioned The Jesus Rolls is, plot-wise, a remake of the 1970s French film, Going Places. The actor was thoroughly entertained by the French film, and admitted he had friends that “reminded me a little bit of the characters”. From there, he got the rights to adapt Blier’s original book Going Places and decided to explore an under-utilised point of discussion in films: “men trying to understand women”.
It’s also worth bringing up that in The Jesus Rolls, Turturro directs AND acts as Jesus in multiple sex scenes. Namely, threesomes. However, Turturro has some advice for other actors/directors that may find themselves in the same situation.
“It’s important to keep a relaxed atmosphere on set,” he said. “A good sex scene should always be, first and foremost, a scene.” Advice that Tommy Wiseau’s The Room certainly could have benefitted from.
Finally, it seems many can’t resist seeing Turturro with his manicured pink nails, bowling prowess, and purple get-up. Oddly enough, in an interview with The Irish Times, the actor admitted to receiving plenty of racy mail, with one-liners such as: “I’d love to take your outfit off.” Looks like The Jesus Rolls has more than a few expectations to live up to.
Coronavirus permitting, the film is due to open March 23rd in Australia. Catch the trailer below.
