The Dude almost did not abide.

One of the most memorable characters of the last two decades of film almost never came to be. In the new PBS documentary 'Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides,' the star talks about they hesitation and uncertainty he felt about accepting the role that spawned millions of cult followers.

Meeting writers and directors the Coen brothers at a party, the pair told Bridges they had written a role for him. He was excited, but flabbergasted when he read the script.

"I said, what is this? This is like nothing that I've ever done before. This is like -- did you crash one of my high school parties?"

In fact, since he didn't know the brothers very well, he quite literally thought that, as his nephew attests to in the clip. Luckily, another family member helped push him toward The Dude.

(Like, chill out, man. It's all good. No one's watching you, or peeing on your rug.)

The documentary airs on PBS on January 12th.

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