"The Achievers: The Story of the Lebowski Fans" will hit the DVD shelves August 18.
“The Achievers: the story of the Lebowski fans,” a documentary based on the fanatical following of the Coen brothers cult-classic film “The Big Lebowski” has announced the official DVD release on August 18, to be distributed by K-Man Productions.
“The Achievers: the story of the Lebowski fans,” a documentary based on the fanatical following of the Coen brothers cult-classic film “The Big Lebowski” has announced the official DVD release on August 18, to be distributed by K-Man Productions.
The documentary, by director Eddie Chung, follows the lives and sub-culture of “Achievers” – fans of “The Big Lebowski.”
At its official premiere, the film earned two sold-out screenings at the 2009 San Francisco Independent Film Festival, and had a limited theatrical run this summer, as well as special screenings at upcoming Lebowski Fest dates.
According to producers, in 2004, Chung, contacted the founders of the Lebowski Fest to get permission to document the festival.
Chung left for Las Vegas not knowing what to expect.
“I started interviewing the founders but they were so busy setting up that it was hard getting them to sit down for an interview, so I started interviewing people who were in line waiting to get into the event. When I started this project I had no idea the popularity of ‘The Big Lebowski,’ but when I arrived to my first Lebowski Fest I was amazed to find a long line,” said Chung.
One by one Chung started to discover a diverse cross section of people.
During the event he met a group of “Achievers” (fans of The Big Lebowski) who were avid members of the Lebowski Fest chat room know as the Forum.
The members have bonded and connect on a daily basis, and have developed life long friendships not bound by geographical location. It is a favorite feature on the Lebowski Fest website, where Achievers communicate through the Lebowski language.
This is where Chung concentrated his efforts, “I wanted to find out what it was about the film that pulled all these people together.” Year after year the festival began getting larger with attendees growing into the thousands while the original group of Forum members began getting tighter and used the festival as an annual meeting place. With 136 hours of interviews and festival film, (including a performance of Jeff Bridges and his band at Lebowski Fest in Los Angeles singing to “a sea of Dudes” as Bridges describes).
Chung secured footage of “The Big Lebowski” in his documentary from Universal.
After four months of negotiations, Chung was granted use of clips from the movie in exchange for a 15 minute featurette about Lebowski Fest which was included as bonus material on the 10 year anniversary release of “The Big Lebowski.”
The only thing left was to get the actors from “The Big Lebowski” to agree to be a part of the project.
“The hardest part was getting the actor’s agents to pass on the info to their clients,” Chung states, “but once they knew of the project they were all happy to donate their time and work. Everything just fell into place, in spite of everything, it all came together.”
“The Achievers” has real behind-the-scenes stories that gave inspiration to the Coen brothers and brought an authenticity to the characters in Lebowski.
In the spirit of “Rocky Horror” the Lebowski Fest propelled lesser known actors and non-actors to cultish status.
James Hoosier, while leaving a bowling ally in Los Angeles picked up a flyer which was calling all bowlers to audition for an unnamed film. He made it to the final call backs and was chosen to play Jesus’ (John Turturro) side kick Liam O’Brien.
Even though Hoosier did not have any lines and had never acted before, he has more screen time than Turturro.
“He was he first actor from the film to come out to a festival and the fans loved him, he was signing autographs all night,” Will states.
Robin Jones, the Ralph’s check out girl, has become a major highlight at the Lebowski Festival. Another actor who was propelled to stardom is Jerry Haleva, the consummate Saddam Hussein. He played Saddam in “Hot Shots Part Deux” with Lloyd Bridges (Jeff Bridges’ father), so when they need a Saddam in Lebowski, Jeff recommended Haleva for the roll.
Lebowski Trivia: Jerry continues to play Saddam so many times, yet very few people realize that he is a Jewish Republican lobbyist for the state of California
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“The Achievers: the story of the Lebowski fans” in theatres:
DATE CITY/STATE VENUE
July 31 Los Angeles Sunset Laemmle
August 1 Los Angeles Sunset Laemmle
Lebowski Fest 2009 dates: www.lebowskifest.com
DATE CITY, STATE VENUE
July 10 Louisville, KY Executive Lawn
July 11 Louisville, KY Executive Strike & Spare
July 20 Seattle, WA Fremont Outdoor Cinema
July 21 Seattle, WA Acme Bowl
July 22 Portland, OR Hollywood Bowl
July 23 Portland, OR Hollywood Bowl
July 24 San Francisco, CA Classic Bowling Center
July 25 San Francisco, CA Fox Theatre
July 26 San Diego, CA House of Blues
July 27 San Diego, CA Kearny Mesa Bowl
September 8 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
DATE CITY, STATE VENUE
September 9 Denver, CO Bowl-Ero
September 11 Minneapolis, MN First Ave
September 12 Minneapolis, MN Memory Lanes
September 13 Chicago, IL Portage Theater
September 14 Chicago, IL Diversey River Bowl
September 15 Chicago, IL Diversey River Bowl
September 17 Toronto
September 18 Toronto
September 19 Boston, MA House of Blues
September 20 Boston, MA Kings
September 22 New York, NY Terminal 5
September 23 New York, NY Lucky Strike
September 24 New York, NY Brooklyn Bowl
September 25 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
September 26 Philadelphia, PA North Bowl
September 28 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
September 29 Washington, DC Strike! Bethesda
October 9 Austin, TX Stubb’s
October 10 Austin, TX Highland Lanes
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