If there’s a ratio of affability to asshole on the karmic scale, something has really gone out of wack for filmmaker Richard Linklater in recent years, one of the most genial people in the industry who deserves some better luck.
In the last year, the filmmaker has had two projects go by the wayside (the spiritual sequel to “Dazed & Confused” which was shelved last summer, and the roadtrip buddy dramedy, “Liars A-E” that went under when Miramax collapsed) and one basically limp into theaters on a tiny and minuscule release (“Me & Orson Welles,” which only grossed $1.7 million despite a much bigger budget — though note the Box-Office Mojo estimated budget seems way overinflated).
“It’s the best time and the worst time to be a filmmaker,” Richard Linklater said paradoxically, noting the shift in the industry towards high concept, but understanding these periods provide fertile creativity to newcomers. The director was in New York yesterday with author Eric Schlosser to appear at a post-screening discussion of their 2006 collaboration “Fast Food Nation” at the eclectic 92YTribeca screening series (the picture is obviously based off of Schlosser’s influential investigative journalism look into the American food industry and he co-wrote the screenplay).
Always an amiable and ever approachable person, we spoke to the filmmaker after the screening and asked about several gestating projects and his woes in the industry.
Linklater admitted his disappointment with the release of “Me & Orson Welles” which almost became a self-release and then instead became a type of ignored and fumbled one. “You try go your own way and like… even the people who should be helping out they kind smell it on you,” he said about the attempt of a self-release that he later backed away from. “They hear you’re self-distributing, they just, it’s almost like a stigma. Even though they know the film industry is fucked up, they still penalize you. They still kind of go in for the kill. They kind of treat you like, ‘oh you never got a distributor, huh?’ They just don’t want to embrace [the idea] at all.”
“It’s kind of like music,” he added. “Like when Prince tried to have his own label and wanted to deals with Wal-Mart and they said, ‘we won’t stock your records if you don’t go with Warners or one of the majors. And he’s Prince. and that’s like anti-trust violation, but they just go, ‘no, we won’t stock it’ cause the major labels will say, ‘What are you doing? You’re killing us.’ “
So what does that mean for some semi-dormant or possibly dead projects like the much-anticipated spiritual sequel to “Dazed & Confused” that was titled “That’s What I’m Talking About”? “It’s just sitting there,” the easygoing Austin-based filmmaker said sounding surprisingly undefeated. “I even have it financed, I just have to get a distributor that would do it or would give me enough to make it.” Note to any mini-majors, we’re looking at you here.
And as for “Liars A-E,” the Scott Rudin produced project about a woman (Rebecca Hall) who retrieves lost items from her ex-boyfriends as she road trips to President Obama’s inauguration, that also was to star Kat Dennings as her best friend along for the ride? Well, the Emma Forrest-penned screenplay was a Playlist favorite and the group pretty much collectively apologizes for not campaigning for its return. It’s an intelligent, witty, non-condescending comedic dramedy about relationships and friendships from the perspective of the kind of woman we’d love to date. Well, don’t get your hopes up.
“The Miramax undertow washed that one away,” he said noting the project was pretty much deader than Dillinger.
So what is next? What he describes is a “Fargo”-esque true crime story cum black comedy set in Texas.
“It’s a film I wrote about ten years ago,” he noted. “[And it’s] set in a little town of Huntsville, East Texas, kind of a little black comedy. It’s my ‘Fargo’ in East Texas, where I group up, so it’s crazy local with fifty characters. It’s about a funeral home assistant who befriends this old lady. It’s kind of a true crime story.”
The director notes that he has no distributor, but has a company on board that hopes to sell it. Frankly, we would love to see his return and this sounds like something with above arthouse-sized commercial appeal.
Despite the unlucky breaks, Linklater still feels grateful that he’s in the situation where he can make feature-length films, but as for taking on commercial projects in the interim of the 3D tentpole craze, it’s maybe not so much his thing. “Oh, man, I turn down films all the time. I got offered a meeting on ‘Mission Impossible 4,’ and some horror films. And I thought, ‘Me? what could I bring to that.”
But never say never, he also realizes his comedic sensibilities also can work inside the studio system. “There’s a couple comedies floating around that I like, that may or may not happen, but I’m lucky that what keeps my toe in the studio industry is the fact that I can make comedies. I’m lucky. As a writer director, I get a lot of latitude for the things that float my way.” — Interview conducted by Chrsitopher Bell
