‘Big Lebowski’ Sequel Renamed ‘The Jesus Rolls,’ Plans Early 2020 Release
John Turturro‘s long-buzzed-about “Big Lebowski” sequel has a fresh title, and a fast-approaching release date. Screen Media announced today that the boutique distribution company has picked up the North American rights to Turturro’s film, now known as “The Jesus Rolls” (and formerly known as “Going Places“), and is planning a release in early 2020.
Written, directed by, and starring Turturro, the new film sees the multi-hyphenate reprising his role of Jesus Quintana from the beloved Coen brothers film. He’ll be joined by a wide-ranging supporting cast that includes Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, Jon Hamm, Susan Sarandon, and Pete Davidson.
Per the film’s official synopsis, it follows “a trio of misfits whose irreverent, sexually charged dynamic evolves into a surprising love story as their spontaneous and flippant attitude towards the past or future backfires time and again, even as they inadvertently perform good deeds. When they make enemies with a gun-toting hairdresser, their journey becomes one of constant escape from the law, from society and from the hairdresser, all while the bonds of their outsider family strengthen.” Turturro, Cannavale, and Tatutou play the threesome in question.
“It feels like a good time to release a transgressive film about the stupidity of men who try and fail and try better to understand and penetrate the mystery of women,” said Turturro in an official statement. “I look forward to working with Screen Media and bring our work and the character of the Jesus to American audiences.”
“The Jesus Rolls” was filmed back in 2016, and Turturro recently teased to The Independent that editing the film took longer than expected but he’s now happy with a cut of the movie after making some tweaks.
“It’s a bit of a racy movie,” Turturro told the outlet last month. “It shows how stupid men are. That’s what the movie is kinda about – the women are the stronger, more together characters. I had to tweak it a little bit but now I feel really good about it. It’s basically an exploration of Jesus getting out of jail. It’s a comedy but a very human comedy.”
Turturro revealed in summer 2017 that “Going Places” kicked off with Jesus getting out of jail after being framed as a pedophile. Turturro wrote the film as a riff on Bertrand Blier’s sexually-charged 1974 French movie of the same name.
The film is produced by Robert Salerno, John Penotti, Fernando Sulichin, Sidney Kimmel, and Paul-Dominique Win Vacharasinthu. Max Arvelaiz, Lawrence Kopeikin, Michael Lewis, Bruce Toll, and Robert S. Wilson serve as executive producers.
