Editor’s note: This story was intended to commemorate the 25th anniversary of The Big Lebowski, in 2023, but the actors’ strike temporarily prevented the cast members from being interviewed.
Sam Elliott was in Texas, shooting a Western, when his agent called to tell him Joel and Ethan Coen wanted him to read their new script. The news couldn’t have come at a better time for Elliott, who was then in his mid-50s and who’d started to worry that he’d be typecast as a cowboy for the rest of his career. A longtime fan of the Coen brothers, Elliott thought this could be the perfect opportunity to break free and show Hollywood that he could do more than shoot a gun and ride a horse.
