Behind the Dude: Steve Buscemi on "The Big Lebowski"

Do you wonder why these three characters are friends with each other, — they seem so different.
No, it seems like bowling was the common thread, and it probably evolved over the years that these three came together as a team and then became friends. Walter and the Dude, they're so different, but they respect each other's take on life. I'm not quite sure how Donny fits in there, but I do think that he's loved by these guys, and that Walter loves him like a brother, and that's why he's able to treat him so badly at times [laughs]. Because you do that to the people you love. So when I finally understood that I thought it was really cool, and that that's how Donny is able to sort of just take these insults. Because he loves Walter and he feels love by Walter.

Were you surprised the movie tanked at the box office?
No, it didn't surprise me. Even I thought it was a weird follow-up to Fargo, and I didn't expect anything from it. I just thought, "These guys made a really fun movie, a great character, kind of, genre, you know, weird genres that kind of mixed, and that it was really fun." It's probably the film that I've done that people have seen the most. I mean the number of times people have seen it. And I guess that started happening about five years ago, when people started to come up to me?usually it was like college guys that would tell me that they and their friends would watch it every weekend, or they had seen it five times. And at first, I didn't really believe it, you know they say five times? or seven times. But so many people would tell me that now I believe it.

So how do you explain that? How do you explain this radical cult following?
I don't know, my wife and I kind of joke that everybody really wants to be the Dude. It's somebody you go, "I like this guy. I like the way he operates." That's part of it. Jeff is the heart of Lebowski. It's just great writing and it goes in unexpected places. And each individual scene is like this brilliant short film. And then it all comes together? but I can't explain it. I think there's something unexplainable about it. There's some mystery to it that keeps people coming back, that they want to see it again and again.