Normally, it would be extremely bad form to get excited about a movie starring a character whose main claim to fame is as a pederast who happens to be an excellent bowler.
But the 1998 Coen Brothers cult classic film “The Big Lebowski,” with its bizarre and hilarious blend of detective noir, off-the-wall-goofiness and occasional brutal violence, is no normal film.
In that film, actor John Turturro has less than 5 minutes of screen time as sex offender and impeccably-dressed bowler Jesus Quintana, but he chews every scene all the way to the bone, affecting an over-the-top Hispanic accent, a hair net and one suspiciously long fingernail. He licks his bowling ball before rolling and dances in slow motion to the music of Andalusian Spanish flamenco band the Gipsy Kings. Anyone even remotely familiar with the movie has the infamous line, “Nobody (messes) with The Jesus” in their joke repertoire.
And now “The Jesus” has his own feature-length film.
“The Jesus Rolls,” in which Turturro both directs and stars, picks up as Quintana is released from prison, hooking up with a couple of fellow misfits (Bobby Cannavale and Audrey Tautou) and heading out on a freewheeling joyride of petty crime and romance as the trio goes on the run from a gun-toting hairdresser.
“Everywhere I go all over the world, people who love ‘The Big Lebowski’ ask me about the Jesus: ‘Will we see him again? Will there be a second coming?’” Turturro said in a press statement about the film.
“It got me thinking. You’re not going to make a sequel but you can take the character and give him another life in his own story, with his friends on their own adventure,” he said.
If the film has any connection to the world of “The Big Lebowski” other than Quintana, the trailer isn’t giving it away.
But a cast that includes Jon Hamm, Christopher Walken, Susan Sarandon and Pete Davidson gives the movie some serious star power.
“The Jesus Rolls” is rated R, and opens in select theaters Feb. 28, with a wider opening on March 6, according to the film’s promotional website.
For more, see TheJesusRollsMovie.com.
