Behind the Dude: John Goodman on "The Big Lebowski"

Were any Lebowski scenes shot that got cut?
Originally the Dude had somebody carry the milk out for him. They asked him if he needed help out with it, and he did. [Laughs] Do you see any moral to the movie, or a central message?
Yeah. Dude should never, ever leave his house. [Laughs] No, man, no. The Dude is a very special cat. And boy, who wouldn't want to be down like that? It's the life of a gentleman.

Do you recall the first time you had heard it was starting to become a big phenomenon?
People had always come up to me and said they appreciated it, but I noticed more and more in the past few years that people were younger, and that kind of scared me because I was afraid it would suffer some kind of odd fate like being a cult film and then being forgotten again. I'm really glad that people appreciate it. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to it.

It seems to get funnier each time you see it.
Yeah. I haven't seen it for a while, I got a real hankering to go back. Next time I see it I want to go back and see it with other people, because it is funnier when you see other people laugh. I want to go to one of those conventions some time, I think that would be fun. I've still got my shorts, got Walter's army jacket and his vest. What else did I keep? Bowling ball, I think.

Are you stopped by fans on the street often?
Yeah. That's mostly what they stop me for. Sometimes they?ll throw out a line, "Shut the fuck up, Donny." Steve used to get a lot on the subway. The more obscure the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Do you have a favorite memory from filming?
Most of all it's the pleasure I used to get. Night shoots are always torture, but we'd drive up to the Valley — there was just a good feeling of going to work on this movie. Anytime I had to go to work I just remember feeling great, like I was going to do something fun today. And that's rare, man. To just know that you're gonna have a ball and it's gonna be recorded in some way.