Mark it zero, dude. Despite an impressive lineup of talent and an enthusiastic crowd, the BIG LEBOWSKI cast reunion and Q&A last night at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom – with Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and John Turturro all in attendance – was a major disappointment.
What should have been an fascinating night reliving a cult classic with the stars of the film turned into a stilted and awkward affair. The assembled crowd of LEBOWSKI devotees (the so-called Urban Achievers) paid upwards of $75 for tickets and some drove from as far as Ohio to be in attendance but all deserved better than what they got.
The Q&A was marred with audio difficulty from the very start as none of the people on stage, including the moderator, could hear anything. Julianne Moore kept having to repeat things to Jeff Bridges and poor Steve Buscemi was out in left field and smiled politely while wondering what was going on. At point did anyone involved with the production attempt to adjust the audio in the monitors (or if they did, they didn’t do a very good job).
There were moments of long, awkward silences as if no one on stage knew what to do. The moderator once asked John Goodman a question twice and Goodman, with a confused look on his face finally just said, “Yeah…” adding “I don’t know, I can’t hear a word anyone’s saying!” Bridges too took some time out to appeal to the crowd, explaining that it was very “surreal” up on stage with absolutely no audio.
To be fair, the cast was working hard and seemed to be having a very good time, even Buscemi, who walked out to a chorus of “Shut the fuck up, Donny!” from the audience. He took it all in stride and when first given the chance to speak, the first thing he said was, “No, YOU shut the fuck up!” Bridges seemed very excited to get things moving, at one point becoming a de facto moderator and throwing out topics to the panel and the audience, while the actual moderator sat back, looking confused (to be fair, I don’t know what he was able to hear).
The crowd particularly ate up Turturro who didn’t have much to say (after all, The Jesus is a pretty minor character) but even a simple Jesus hand gesture had the crowd in fits. Goodman reluctantly broke into some Walter and delivered a “You’re out of your element!” for the crowd (but mostly because the Q&A itself was going so poorly).
Last night was a rare opportunity to get the entire cast of one of the most beloved comedies of the past 10 years back together to reflect on the film, its surprise success and their careers since then. Instead the opportunity was wasted and who knows when we’ll get to bring them back again. Someone at the Hammerstein needs to acknowledge the mistakes and, at the very least, apologize to the audience (I’d suggest refunds, but that’ll never happen).
If you’re interested in watching the whole affair for yourself, the streaming video is still available over at the Digital Dorm and we’ve included some highlights below.