Richard Linklater’s All-Nighter

Richard Linklater came to film relatively late
in life. He didn’t start watching movies seriously until he was a
teenager-he says the first film that really meant anything to him
was Raging Bull, which came out when he was 18. Maybe that’s
why his films, unlike those of fellow Texan Robert Rodriguez and
many other young filmmakers, are slice-of-life pieces without much
cinematic reference.

But then, it’s part of Linklater’s nature to refuse
to be put in a category. It’s this aversion to being labeled that
keeps Linklater from directly answering any question that could
pigeonhole him in the least. Or he might just be a nice guy, eager
not to offend anyone. Needless to say, acerbic quips about show
business personalities don’t flow from this guy.

Linklater is not short on words, however, about his
favorite subject-movies. Hollywood, Linklater says, "kills
the spirit of filmmaking." Not surprisingly, Linklater still
lives in his adopted home of Austin, despite the success of his
first two features, Slacker and Dazed and Confused.
He’s still Rick Linklater from Huntsville, Texas-not too far removed
from his days of being put through barbarian freshman initiation
acts like Mitch in Dazed.

Past experience seems to be fertile ground for Linklater’s
storylines. The setting for his new movie is partially inspired
by his real-life adventures in Europe. I spoke to Linklater about
his new movie, and also a little about his old ones, while he was
preparing to speak to a large crowd of students at the University
of Massachusetts.

Alice Hicks (MM): I was talking to a friend
recently about how real people think the characters in your movies
are. I’ve heard that crazy fanatics have called some of the actors
in Slacker and talked to them as if they were just like
their characters.

Austin goes Austrian: Linklater in rehearsal with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

Richard Linklater: Yeah, that’s always
my goal-for people to think that [my characters are real]. [He laughs].
It’s [Slacker] like a documentary. We just shot it. Same with Dazed.

MM: How much of both the films are based
on your real life experience?

RL: Oh, well … I wouldn’t say all, but both
of them were pretty personal. Dazed was more so. Slacker was
a world I lived in. It seemed natural for me to make a film that
took place in that world. I wouldn’t call it autobiographical as
much as I would personal. Dazed was very autobiographical.

MM: Were any of the characters in Dazed directly
based on you? Or was it a compilation?

RL: Oh, I could say this about a lot of the
characters in Slacker, too, but when you’re a director,
a little bit of you is in everything. Dazed probably more
so. I don’t know. They’re probably different. There’s no one-to-one
characters. Probably the closest [in Dazed] would be Mitch,
the young guy. In ’76 [the year the movie takes place] I was going
into high school, too.

MM: What’s going on with your new project?
I heard it’s set in Europe.

RL: Yeah, it’s about two people who meet on
a train in Europe. He’s an American and she’s

French. They get off in Vienna one night. He talks
her into getting off the train with him because he’s leaving the
next day. They just walk around Vienna all night. It stars Ethan
Hawke and French actress Julie Delpy.

MM: What was your inspiration for this
film?

RL: It’s once again fairly autobiographical.
Meeting people traveling – I always knew there was a movie in that.
It’s really kind of a romance, just two people-so it’s different
for me. it’s only two characters instead of a big ensemble.

MM: Had you been to Austria before ?

RL: Yeah, I had been there over a year ago.
We shot it this [past] summer, but I had been there in November
’93.

MM: What did you think of it?

RL: I liked it a lot. I had been to
the festival there. I’ve been to a lot of other European cities,
and they didn’t feel quite right, but Vienna had a lot of people
who were just hanging out. It kind of reminded me of Austin in
a certain way. [They were] cafe people, really smart people.
It felt like a big college town, very laid-back. Almost too laid-back.
The service is bad.

Eurorail was never like this! Celine and Jesse find love on the streets of Vienna.

MM: What was it like to work with Ethan
and Julie?

RL: Julie is very intense, and Ethan is cool.
I had a good time working on the film.

MM: Since Ethan is in your movie, I was
wondering what you thought of Reality Bites?

RL: Oh, I liked it.

MM: Some People have compared the cultures
in Reality Bites and Slacker. What do you think
of that? Do you think Houston’s culture is that much like Austin’s?

RL: Well, Houston has that culture. Everywhere
has that kind of culture. I mean, it’s such a big city. I lived
in there for a while. I think the writer, Helen Childress, is from
Houston.

MM: Yes, she is. Have you been meeting
a lot of young filmmakers like her?

RL: You get to know a lot of them along the
way. You meet them at festivals or around. Quentin Tarrantino was
in town [a while back]. I gave him a premiere for Pulp Fiction here
[in Austin]. That was fun. You pick tip friends along the way.

MM: With all the publicity that Tarantino
is getting lately, how do you feel your more laidback style can
contend with the popular action-packed, violence-filled movies?
Are there definitely different audiences for these types of films,
or do you think the styles are competing for the same audience?

RL: I don’t think that the audiences are that
different. I definitely think people like a good movie, regardless
of the subject matter, I think quite a bit of [the content of]
my films is different [than the subject matter in Tarantino’s movies,]
but there are more similarities than differences-they’re both very
dialogue-intensive, there are strange digressions [in the storylines],
and there’s a lot more bucking with the narrative than in most
people [‘s films].

MM: What effect do you think the marijuana
laden promotional materials for Dazed had on the visibility
of marijuana as a drug and on its legalization campaign? How
do you feel about legalization?

RL: Oh, I don’t know. It seems like such a
dumb issue. I mean, for me the whole movie wasn’t about drugs,
although I’m pro-legalization. I guess it probably gave marijuana
a little visibility, though. I thought it [the drug issue] was
pretty stupid.

MM: So, was the use of pot in the promotional
material more of a ploy to draw people into the ’70s culture
of the film? What was the idea behind that promotion scheme?

RL: I don’t know. Call Gramercy Pictures,
my distributors, and ask them. To me, it [Dazed] was a teenage
rock ‘n roll comedy.

Unfortunately, I don’t get much say in how they promote
it. I can tell them I don’t like what they’re doing, and they’ll
say [in Butthead’s voice] "Trust us, we know what we’re doing." [Butthead
‘huh-huh’] That’s how much say you get.

MM: Is that frustrating to you?

RL: It was on Dazed because they made
what I thought were bad decisions all along the line. But, what
can you do? Dazed found its audience if not at the theater,
because they [Gramercy] didn’t release it as wide as they could
have, it definitely has on video.

MM: Where I live, Dazed got a lot
of play in the theater. It played once, and then came back months
later.

RL: Yeah, they [Slacker and Dazed]
both seem to come back. But, what the hell, they’re both kind of
cult films, I guess.

MM: Definitely.

RL: That’s flattering to me.

MM: Do you think your cult status will
change with the release of your new picture?

RL: I don’t know. It’s hard to say. It’s kind
of the same kind of film, except with two people-it’s [still] a
lot of talking. What the new one has going for it is that it’s
a romance, so there’s probably more of what people would consider
a satisfying story, which is what audiences really want.

MM: You seem to be moving up in your "actor
profile." What made you make the change from no-names to
big names?

RL: [Laughs..] John Slate [the J.F.K. assassination
conspiracy fanatic in Slacker] to Parker Posey [Darla in Dazed]
to Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. For Before Sunrise I could
have cast anyone I wanted. I just thought Ethan was perfect for
it. But I had to talk him into doing it [laughs].

MM: So, your casting decisions were made
solely on the basis of who you thought were right for the roles?

RL: Yes. I cast the [new] movie for nine months.
Everyone in the world wanted to be in it. It was just getting the
right people [that took so long].

MM: I was wondering, since you’ve had both
Anthony Rapp [Tony in Dazed] and Ethan Hawke in your films now,
if you’d seen the play Sophistry?

RL: Yeah, I did.

MM: I did too.

RL: I went because Anthony was in it. I was
in New York, so he said, "Hey, come to my play, it’s really
good." So I went and saw him. I thought he was great. I met
Ethan backstage. I thought he was great in it, too. I think Jonathan
[Marc Sherman], the playwright, is really good. I saw a play Ethan
directed called Veins and Thumbtacks by Jonathan Marc Sherman.
It was really, really good.

MM: I didn’t know that Ethan directed.

RL: Oh, yeah, he’s directed a couple plays
and written a novel. He’s really smart. I was really impressed
with his creativity and work ethic. He’s not out doing the "star
thing" like everyone in L.A. He’s really just doing work.
[He’s] doing three plays in ten weeks, that kind of thing.

Richard Linklater has once again actually made a film where people actually talk to each other.

MM: So, he definitely wouldn’t fit the "slacker" label?

RL: Who does? Well, actually, he may be what
people consider a ‘Slacker’. Since he’s more well known, [and his]
films are "above ground," it’s probably seen as socially
acceptable. But I know some people who are doing the exact same
thing as Ethan Hawke who are considered ‘Slackers’ because they
haven’t made anybody a lot of money yet.

MM: So, how much does the "slacker" label
annoy you? It’s become huge.

RL: Oh, it seems kind of abstract now. So
many people have used the term and don’t have any idea about the
movie, or never saw the movie, and don’t know its usage. It’s really
not even my term anymore. It’s just out there. President Clinton’s
using it, for godssakes. And I guarantee you he hasn’t seen the
movie.

MM: No. [he laughs loud]. I would not think
President Clinton has seen Slacker.

RL: I don’t think he’d like it, although Ann
Richards saw it, and she liked it.

MM: Has it become hard for you to be as
popular as you and your films have become? How much has your
life changed?

RL: Not that much. It’s gotten easier. It’s
easier to make films.. It’s kind of the same, though, [I’m] just
working. I mean, I [still] live in Austin. It’s about the same.
Same friends, same everything. It’s kind of nice. My career goal
has always been to be able to stay up late, get up late, and never
have to wear a tie. I think I’ve done pretty good go far.

MM: You must be a lot busier, though.

RL: Busier, but in a good way. I used to be
busy just trying to get things started where [as] now I can get
things finished. But, it took me a long time to build up to that.

MM: You have a family, though. Is it hard
to fit in time for them, or do you schedule around them in order
to make time? Is it easier to make your own schedule now?

RL: Yeah. I have a 20-month-old daughter,
but I see them [wife and daughter] when I can.

MM: Do you have any other new projects
in the works?

RL: Yeah, I’m writing right now when I get
time – a film I want to do next. I hope to be in production by
next summer on something.

MM: What is the film you want to do about?
Do you have any other ideas floating around?

RL: Yeah, I got a couple of ideas. I got a
backlog of scripts that are in the ground waiting to be done someday,
and some things I’m writing right now. One’s kind of a big piece,
a little different for me. It’s a true story about bank robbers.
It takes place in Texas in the ’20s.

MM: So, what’s your angle on this robbery
story?

RL: Crime is good [laughs]. I like people
who live outside the legal restraints of society or of what society
expects from people. Outsiders.

MM: Is that a theme in Before Sunrise?

RL: Yeah, in their own way they’re outsiders.
I’ve always been attracted to the margins (of society]. That seems
to be where it’s really happening in anything.

MM: So, coming from the underground how
do you feel about your status as a possessor/trendsetter of hip
culture? You were named to the "Hot List" in Rolling
Stone. Is that idea weird or amusing to you?

"Work is hazardous to your health! Create your own world. Daydream."

RL: It’s pretty laughable because I don’t
consider myself on the cutting-edge of culture or anything – I
don’t drink coffee, I don’t watch TV. I’m completely out of it
most of the time. I like movies, but that’s about it. I guess I
just pick up things. It’s a role people cast, I just got thrust
into it.

MM: The right ideas at the right time.

RL: Yeah, which you can’t predict or go after.
It just happens. It’s both a blessing and a curse. I’m going to
try to do a different kind of movie. People are like "Oh,
but you’re supposed to do this kind of movie." I’ve been lucky
so far. I’ve been able to do pretty much what I want and somehow
get away with it. I just try to keep people guessing a little bit.

MM: Isn’t your new film going to break
out of the mold people have cast you in somewhat?

RL: Yeah, because this film has absolutely
nothing to do with American culture. In a way it’s American, but
it’s kind of a European film. It has no pop culture reference,
no hit soundtrack. It’s just much more simple. It’s just two people.
It could have been made 50, years ago, I like to think.

MM: Are you in to ’50s films?

RL: I’m into all kinds of films, from all
periods. I saw this one [Before Sunrise] in slightly more
classical terms, though.

MM: Are movies your main pastime?

RL: Movies and music.

MM: Who’s you’re favorite band?

RL: That’s kind of like asking what my favorite
movie is. I don’t really have one. I hate answering that question.
I always feel weird when it comes out in print. If you say, "Oh,
who do you listen to?" and I say, "The Butthole Surfers" it
makes it sound like I’m their biggest fan. It’s like when people
ask who my favorite directors are, what directors influenced you,
I go, "all of them." Just name one and I’ll tell you
what I think about them. That kind of thing is just easier. I think
we all just take in so much just being members of the culture.

MM: True.

RL: So, what do you think I should talk about
at this thing [the lecture]. What do you think college-aged people
want to hear from me? I’m kind of amazed anyone wants to hear anything
from me.

MM: You are part of the Distinguished Speaker
Tour.

RL: Doug Copeland got me in there.

MM: You’re friends with him?

RL: Yeah.

MM: What do you think about the "Generation
X" label?

RL: We both laugh about it.

MM: So, it was not his intention to get
this blown-up into a universal meaning for a generation?

RL: No. It was just a good book.

MM: So, it’s kind of like the Slacker thing
is for you? It got blown all out of proportion?

RL: Yeah. We both experienced similar things
at about the same time. It’s a boring and old subject. It was interesting
three years ago.

MM: I’m personally tired of being labeled
and pigeonholed as part of "Generation X." I guess
every generation is stereotyped, though.

RL: It’s sad to me (that the label got blown
up). If you look at the work, it’s really not about stereotypes-it’s
the complete opposite. It’s sad to see certain things become stereotypes.
It’s that ultimate media oversimplification of everything – always
a little depressing to watch.

MM: The media probably considers you a
spokesperson for slackers. What would you say to slackers everywhere?

RL: Work is hazardous to your health! Create
your own world. Daydream. MM