Richard Linklater

[DarkImbecile]

Richard Linklater (1960 - )



"Storytelling is powerful; film particularly. We can know a lot of things intellectually, but humans really live on storytelling. Primarily with ourselves; we're all stories of our own narrative."

Filmography

Features (* = Screenwriter)
It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books* (1988)
Slacker* (1990)
Dazed and Confused* (1993)
Before Sunrise* (1995)
SubUrbia (1996)
The Newton Boys* (1998)
Waking Life* (2001)
Tape (2001)
School of Rock (2003)
Before Sunset* (2004)
Bad News Bears (2005)
Fast Food Nation* (2006)
A Scanner Darkly* (2006)
Me and Orson Welles (2008)
Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach [documentary] (2008)
Bernie* (2011)
Before Midnight* (2013)
Boyhood* (2014)
Everybody Wants Some!!* (2016)
Last Flag Flying* (2017)
Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)

Shorts/Television (* = Screenwriter)
"Woodshock" (1985)
"Heads I Win/Tails You Lose"* [video project] (1991)
"Live from Shiva's Dance Floor" (2003)
$5.15/Hr.* [TV pilot] (2004)
Up to Speed [TV series, 6 episodes] (2012)

Web Resources
2006 interview, with Gavin Smith, Film Comment
2014 profile, by Nathan heller, The New Yorker
2014 interview, by Matthew McConaughey, Interview Magazine
2016 interview with Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian

Print Resources
The Cinema of Richard Linklater, by Thomas A. Christie (2011)
Richard Linklater (Contemporary Film Directors Series), by David T. Johnson (2012)
Walk, Don't Run: The Cinema of Richard Linklater, by Rob Stone (2013)

Forum Discussion
247 Slacker
336 Dazed and Confused
856-859 The Before Trilogy
Waking Life
Fast Food Nation (Richard Linklater, 2006)
A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, 2006)
839 Boyhood
Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater, 2016)
Last Flag Flying (Richard Linklater, 2017)

[Andre Jurieu]

I wondered what you all thought of Linklater's SubUrbia. I realize it's not a high school film as all its characters appear to be vaguely post-high school. However, it's disturbingly dead on in its understanding of that period of aimless uncertainty and the reasons for feeling paralyzed into inactivity. It is perhaps a little too bleak to be seen as entirely authentic but for me it was and remains definitive. I suppose it's probably seen as more of a Bogosian piece than a Linklater one. Ribisi, though, has never given a more convincing, fully lived in performance. But then again, my reaction may partially owe to a recognition of spiritual kinship. Anyway, where the hell is the DVD of this?

I would have started a separate thread on this but I figured it was more appropriate here as a response to the musings above and I doubt it would attract too much attention on its own.

I actually haven't watched it since I was in high school. I just remember thinking it was awfully cynical, which is weird since I was amongst the most cynical/pessimistic kids in our school during what was a pretty cynical stretch of time. I should probably give it another shot if I can even track down a VHS copy.

[lord_clyde]

I wondered what you all thought of Linklater's SubUrbia. I realize it's not a high school film as all its characters appear to be vaguely post-high school.

I love it, one of my favorites, right up there with 'Tape', 'Waking Life', and those two Ethan Hawke movies where the sun rises and sets and whatnot. One of the few VHS tapes I still own, watch it once a year when I hold my annual LSD* triple feature which also includes 'Dazed and Confused' and 'Slacker'. A criterion release would be most welcome, especially because then the "trilogy" would be of like quality.

*Linklater Defines Slackers.

[toiletduck!]

Well now I'm torn...

I love Bogosian's play (I'm actually prepping to direct a production in a little less than a year), but I'm completely turned off by Linklater's 'talkies' -- Waking Life, Slacker and Before one-or-the-other left me in a complete lurch.

How does Linklater deal with this adaptation gig? What's our Bogosian/Linklater ratio looking like? I haven't seen Tape -- another great play, so maybe that's a good place to test the Linklater adaptation waters.

-Toilet Dcuk

[lord_clyde]

I love Bogosian's play (I'm actually prepping to direct a production in a little less than a year), but I'm completely turned off by Linklater's 'talkies' -- Waking Life, Slacker and Before one-or-the-other left me in a complete lurch.

How does Linklater deal with this adaptation gig? What's our Bogosian/Linklater ratio looking like? I haven't seen Tape -- another great play, so maybe that's a good place to test the Linklater adaptation waters.

At the least you will have to admit Linklater does a good job keeping the film (Tape) interesting when the entire film is set in a motel room. In SubUrbia there are a few different locations for the characters to disappear when they need to (and which leads to the film's best scene). Also, last time I checked locally, the 'Tape' dvd runs nearly 20$ used, so you may want to netflix it.

[Jeff]

last time I checked locally, the 'Tape' dvd runs nearly 20$ used, so you may want to netflix it.

Less than $10 new at DVD Planet.

[zedz]

How does Linklater deal with this adaptation gig? What's our Bogosian/Linklater ratio looking like?

From memory, it seemed to be a faithful adaptation (i.e. it struck me as much more 'theatrically-sourced' than Linklater's previous films, and seemed in line with other Bogosian work I knew - I've never read or seen the play of this), but it was a bit of a dream collaboration, since so much of the film's themes, characters and dramatic treatment (that unity of time and place) chimed with Linklater's own. And I assume(d) they come pretty much complete from the play.

At the time, I thought this was good but not great: more evidence that the story of Linklater's career was going to be simply diminishing returns (though my estimation of Dazed and Confused has subsequently improved, and his later work hasn't borne this out), and was much more interested in the soundtrack album, which is great, especially Superchunk's "Does Your Hometown Care?"

[LionelHutz]

I love Bogosian's play (I'm actually prepping to direct a production in a little less than a year), but I'm completely turned off by Linklater's 'talkies' -- Waking Life, Slacker and Before one-or-the-other left me in a complete lurch.

I think Linklater is one of the best when it comes to writing realistic and engaging dialogue.
But I can see how someone can be turned off by Slacker and above all Walking Life.

[toiletduck!]

(that unity of time and place)

I'm hoping that this means that Linklater keeps the film to the area immediately adjacent to the 7-11 rather than giving us a overall view of the suburb? I can only assume that the man willing to bring Tape to film would. If so, kudos to him and I will definitely be seeking this one out.

-Toilet Dcuk

[Oedipax]

(that unity of time and place)

I'm hoping that this means that Linklater keeps the film to the area immediately adjacent to the 7-11 rather than giving us a overall view of the suburb? I can only assume that the man willing to bring Tape to film would. If so, kudos to him and I will definitely be seeking this one out.

For the most part, it takes place around the 7-11, but there is a little bit of 'opening up' with some traveling shots from the rock star friend's limo showing the monotony of suburban housing, etc., and another scene where the characters walk to a nearby fast food place and talk there for a while (maybe that was in the play as well, I'm not familiar with it).

Well worth seeing, IMO. Nicky Katt is excellent in it, as is everyone else (Steve Zahn!)

[VC2020]

It's one of my favorites from the 2nd half of the 90s and also on of the few VHS's that I still pop into the old VCR.

A DVD was supposed to be released September but September is coming fast and I haven't heard any updates.

[hearthesilence]

There's a nice interview with Richard Linklater in the Guardian today, and he says something that I wish more people would take to heart with regards to awards seasons:

As in the new film, he met a girl at college who was into theatre and this began his love affair with the arts. “I saw it as a great relief; a new phase of my life.” Why? “Because you’re an immature little twit when you’re trying to win. It’s a pretty base nature. I don’t see the arts as competitive at all. It was a better angel of my nature. Sports is zero-sum: winner, loser, demonstrable.”

[solaris72]

Is Ted Cruz "Tough As Texas"?, directed by Richard Linklater.

[spectre]

So Cruz is bad because he's not enough of a macho thug. Thanks for that insight, Richard! Also, more Slacker aesthetics and less Bernie in general in future, please.

[domino harvey]

Ted Cruz referenced It Follows by name in one of the Republican debates in what was actually a pretty hip and relevant reference

[hearthesilence]

So Cruz is bad because he's not enough of a macho thug. Thanks for that insight, Richard! Also, more Slacker aesthetics and less Bernie in general in future, please.

This is the Texas electorate we're talking about. I could care less about insufficient wokeness if it'll get a far-right Republican out of the US senate.

I was about to say something: it's a fucking campaign ad. Making the most effective one (i.e. bringing in votes for your candidate and/or taking votes away from the opposition) is NOT the same thing as making a good or even thoughtful work of art.

[movielocke]

Weak copy for that script, loses the plot with rambly obscure JFK reference. Better would be to reference the wife insults: “did you hear what the president said about ted Cruz’s wife” play the Trump clip, then state that if Ted Cruz isn’t tough enough to defend his wife, then ted Cruz is too weak for Texas.

But a good idea overall, I love portraying Cruz as the weak worm that got squashed by big boots , I like attacking Cruz as a weak weasly Lilly livered little slime ball that doesn’t give a shit about his own family and only craves power and will sacrifice his wife and children to maintain power. More of the same please, but more vicious.

[swo17]

You can keep talking about Linklater's political ad in this thread but further discussion of the Cruz/O'Rourke race goes in the politics thread

[spectre]

So Cruz is bad because he's not enough of a macho thug. Thanks for that insight, Richard! Also, more Slacker aesthetics and less Bernie in general in future, please.

This is the Texas electorate we're talking about. I could care less about insufficient wokeness if it'll get a far-right Republican out of the US senate.

I was about to say something: it's a fucking campaign ad. Making the most effective one (i.e. bringing in votes for your candidate and/or taking votes away from the opposition) is NOT the same thing as making a good or even thoughtful work of art.

On one level, yes, you're right – and, frankly, anything that gets Cruz out of politics is indeed a very good thing. But given that the US is in a near-constant state of political campaigning nowadays (at least, the better part of three years out of four with the mid-terms plus the never-ending presidential primaries), political ads can't really be seen as some exception to normal discourse, but rather as a practically ever-present part of it. If one takes the approach of throwing a few progressive principles under the bus now and then in order to get a short-term positive result (i.e. punting Cruz out of office), then, yeah, there is a bit of normalisation that comes with that – the narrative being presented is no longer exceptional.

Just in case anyone's unclear, I'm not saying the ad was massively offensive or anything – it's just that its core message, "Cruz is a pussy because he didn't clock the guy who insulted his wife + family", is a bit dodgy. Because we know that most liberals and other fair-minded people don't really believe that politicians (incl. Democratic politicians on the end of similar jibes from Trump!) should actually do that (or that they're cowards if they don't), that message does potentially come across as a bit phoney and disingenuous. On the other hand, it's entirely possible that most Republican Texans are not very smart and will think that the guy in the baseball cap with the authentic Texas drawl has a point (and also won't realise that they're being condescended to), in which case ... good campaign tactics, I guess?

[dda1996a]

Just watched Double Play: James Benning & Richard Linklater, but my version cropped the widescreen to 4:3, so I missed all the movie titles. I could just get by with the Linklaters and some Bennings, but there are a lot of clips I couldn't make out. Anyone can help me?

[therewillbeblus]

Going through the keyvip, I checked another longtime film of interest off the list with SubUrbia. I didn’t realize this took place two towns over from where I grew up; but while I can relate to the loitering and aimless adventures in stagnation, this could have taken place in Texas, California, Ohio, or anywhere really because of the universality of the developmental and cultural collide.

Along with a wide application of community, even though this is clearly intended to be a slice of life for Gen Xers, the film feels timeless because there has and always will be a fraction of youth, certainly accelerated by this movement, who are disillusioned and stuck in low-motive purgatory to realise the aspirations and ideas they conceive in overdrive. I didn’t find it overly bleak, probably because Linklater’s zen approach to milieu encourages a soothing, safe space to undergo a flashback to the pains of this self-conscious and painful period of the isolation that persists even in the presence of a social environment. The Ribisi speech where he outlines the hopeless absence of identity in rehashed Americana and in shedding his anger achieves a surrendering catharsis in the “Fuck fear” rant is a wonderful exhibition on the cyclical process of attempting to grasp self-actualization bogged down by sociological voids of meaning before it’s developmentally appropriate to get traction in that terrain. Finding brief solace in anarchic and nihilistic philosophies or physiological relief from drug abuse or explosions of anger are shown to be consequences of a lack of structural support without pointing the finger and diffusing responsibility. I also love how this film takes that position and essentially builds to an event that takes the male perspective of the left-field shocker in my favorite early Chabrol, and the more I think of it this film owes a lot to that one, even if it’s nowhere near as good. Even if it’s a fake-out, it’s the idea that counts, and the reveal of the lie is even more telling of the lengths we go to fight our numbness and inner pain and the need to believe in something even if it's nothingness.

[brundlefly]

Richard Linklater's feature-length death penalty doc "Hometown Prison" will be available on Max February 27th with works by Alex Stapleton and Iliana Sosa in the Lawrence Wright-inspired docuseries God Save Texas.

Trailer

[brundlefly]

Blue Moon trailer.

[domino harvey]

Blue Moon is getting a sudden Blu-ray release later this month, courtesy of Sony reversing their DVD only release policy lately