‘Captain America’ Star Chris Evans Shocked by Jeff Bridges’ Return as ‘The Big Lebowski’s The Dude

Avengers star Chris Evans was caught off guard by Jeff Bridges’ reprising of The Dude, the easygoing slacker portrayed by the star in 1998’s The Big Lebowski.

“Don’t play with my emotions,” the Captain America star tweeted Thursday in response to Bridges’ tweet teasing a return to his most famous role. The project is anticipated to be an advert airing during Super Bowl LIII February 3.

Earlier this month, Bridges was honored at the 76th Annual Golden Globes as the annual recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, presented for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”

In his acceptance speech, Bridges thanked Lebowski filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, praising the classic as a “great movie.”

“If I’m lucky, I’ll be associated with the Dude for the rest of my life,” Bridges said. “I feel so honored to be a part of that film.”

In 2016, the writer-director duo definitively shot down the proposition of ever producing a sequel.

“Tara Reid likes to announce that just like [George] Clooney likes to announce Hail, Caesar!” Joel Coen told Variety, acknowledging Clooney’s efforts to push the brothers into moving forward with Caesar by announcing in the press it was to be his next project. “In this case, I don’t think we’ll oblige.”

Ethan Coen offered a simple “no” when approached about involvement with a proposed spinoff centered around John Turturro’s bowling nut Jesus. Turturro ultimately penned and directed that film, Going Places, to be released sometime this year.

“I think whatever the brothers think. If they want to do a sequel, I’m sure it’d be a cool thing. It’s such a good movie. You’ve got the Coen brothers,” Bridges later told Digital Spy in 2017.

“And like so many masters of their craft, they make it look like I was just rolling off lines. He’s just a silly stoner. But why do people keep looking at it, going…? You can see those scenes. I’m a guy who’d rarely or ever watch my movies on TV.”

“If Lebowski comes on, I’ll say, ‘I’ll just watch Turturro lick the ball,’ and then I’ll say, ‘No, I’ll just…’ and then I’m hooked,” he continued.

“Because every time you see it, you get to appreciate all of this beautiful stuff. So I think it’s just such a good film – period. It’s fun to turn people onto it who haven’t seen it. They appreciate it – most of them.”

Evans next returns as Steve Rogers-slash-Captain America in Avengers: Endgame, out April 26.