10 Insane Movies You Didn't Know Were Based On True Stories
6. The Big Lebowski
The Coen Brothers have a bit of a tenuous relationship with the truth. Infamously, they claimed their 1996 Oscar-winner Fargo was a true story, when it was actually pure fiction; yet their 1998 cult classic The Big Lebowski contains more than a hint of historical fact.
We all know and love Jeff Bridges as The Dude, but you might not have known that the character is closely based on an actual person, named not Jeffrey Lebowski, but Jeff Dowd, who is indeed known socially as The Dude.
When Bridges reels off The Dude's personal history to Julianne Moore's Maude - co-author of the Port Huron Statement, member of the Seattle Seven - he's citing things that Dowd really did, in his younger days as a political activist.
Similarly, John Goodman's Walter is modelled on two real people: famed writer-director John Milius, and Peter Exline, a former script consultant and Vietnam veteran who helped the Coens early in their career.
Exline also partly inspired The Dude, as he not only owned a rug which he felt 'really tied the room together,' he also once had his car stolen by a joy-riding teen who accidentally left his homework in the back seat.
Exline later confronted the teen in question at home, and reportedly much of The Big Lebowski's homework scene plays out as it did in reality.