THE BIG LEBOWSKI star Jeff Bridges is fighting to play iconic blind 1960s composer MOONDOG in a new biopic. The actor has always been a fan of the New York eccentric, who penned tunes for rockers like Janis Joplin, and now he's desperate to play him in a planned movie. Bridges admits the scruffy oddball, famous for his Viking helmet, has fascinated him for years and he has recently come across the music he recorded and performed in his adopted Germany in his final years. Bridges says, "I always thought he was a homeless guy. He was always there, rain or shine. He was the real thing - a wonderful composer. "There's this young German girl who got him and said, 'Let me take you to the fatherland...' So she took him to Germany, took all his persona, all that Viking stuff, shaved his beard and dressed him in suits, and he just flourished his last few years. "There's live performances of what he was doing and it's really great stuff."