Steve Buscemi nearly turned down his biggest role
It’s never easy to figure out whether to take on a movie role. Even though the words on the page might speak to someone from the moment they read it, other times, people will have to wait for months before something finally sinks in. Although Steve Buscemi might have had his fair share of decent roles in the past, it was in the role of Donny in The Big Lebowski that he started getting cold feet.
Throughout the film, fans are treated to many scenes with ‘The Dude’ donning his signature bathrobe while John Goodman’s Walter constantly verbally abuses Donnie at the bowling alley. Although the relationship was far more nuanced in the final version of the script, Buscemi mentioned not wanting to finish the screenplay, admitting on Today, “When I was reading the part of Donny, I kind of didn’t get it. I felt bad for the guy. I thought, ‘Why does Walter bully him all the time?’ And as I’m reading it, I thought, ‘How am I gonna tell Joel and Ethan that I don’t want to do this?'”.
Despite being out of his element in every scene, Buscemi started to change his perception of the film when he started to see the relationship between him and Walter. Although Walter might verbally abuse Donny left and right, there is a lot of brotherly love there, which is brought to a head when Donny dies of a heart attack after a run-in with nihilists.
After his death, the team makes an impromptu funeral for Donny as Walter spreads his ashes, albeit with a healthy amount of testosterone added for good measure. Despite being played off for laughs, it’s almost beautifully tragic that one of the only times Walter is actually in tune with his emotions comes when Donny isn’t around to see it anymore.
By the time Buscemi got to that last page in the script, he had started to see the humanity in the performance, going on to say, “When I got to Donny’s last scene … I saw the relationship. I saw how much Walter really loves Donny and how they’re like brothers, and I found it very moving”. Despite being one of the biggest cult classics of all time, Buscemi wouldn’t be able to see the fruits of his labour once the film started getting picked up in the next few years.
Coming after directing Fargo, the Coen brothers’ big left turn with this movie left fans feeling a little bit jaded, wondering what the movie’s point was. Outside of the antics of Walter and Donny, people began latching to the lazy nature of Jeff Bridges’ performance in the central role, relating to his Zen demeanour and his way of rolling with the punches throughout every day.
Although Buscemi’s big-budget role that same year went to Michael Bay’s disaster epic Armageddon, his performance in this film garnered him more critical acclaim, always playing the mellow and often-confused opposite to Walter. Buscemi may have gotten more iconic roles under his belt, but his legacy will always have a trace of Donny lingering around.
