It was reported by Coming Coon back in August that actor/director John Turturro was working on a remake of the 1974 Bertrand Blier film Going Places, a bitter French comedy about an apathetic crime spree, threesomes, and a good deal of well-intentioned ennui. The 1974 film was not well-received critically, but has gone on to be a cult hit in its own right. It was rumored at the time that the new Going Places remake – slated for release in 2017 – was also going to be a spinoff of the 1998 cult hit The Big Lebowski, and that Tuturro would be reprising his role of Jesus Quintana, the notably flamboyant pederast champion bowler from that film.
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Those rumors were confirmed today, as a recently-released publicity photo depicted Turturro dressed as Jesus on the set of Going Places. This new spinoff film has had no input from Joel and Ethan Coen, the creator of the character, but it’s assumed that Turturro has proceeded with their presumed blessing. Turturro has previously written and directed several features including Mac, Illuminata, Romance and Cigarettes, and Fading Gigolo.
This may be the closest fans may ever come to seeing a follow-up to The Big Lebowski, a film that has, since its 1998 release, amassed a sizeable cult, and which has become the subject of full-blown film conventions. Given the way Tuturrro makes films, Going Places promises to be calmer, more absurd, and more thoughtful than Lebowski. We’ll see for sure in 2017.
Top Image: Atsushi Nishijima
Witney Seibold is a longtime contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon. He also contributes to Legion of Leia and to Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
