Though Miramax scuttled his next project, Liars (A to E), it's not hard to imagine Richard Linklater will bounce back -- the tricky part is picturing just what he'll do next. Over his career, the Austin-based filmmaker has thrown his audience a few laid-back curveballs, moving from low-budget films like Slacker and Dazed and Confused to studio comedies like School of Rock and Bad News Bears. Linklater's newest film is Me and Orson Welles, and it may be his most unlikely yet: a period comedy starring Zac Efron, Claire Danes, and new find Christian McKay as Welles.
Still, despite Efron's star wattage, Linklater admits that getting the film into theaters was no easy task. In an interview Movieline conducted with the director last week, he opened up about those difficulties and talked extensively about an even more challenging project: the secretive drama he's been filming every year for the last eight years.
A little over ten years ago, you made The Newton Boys, which starred a lot of young male actors who were just about the hottest thing going back then...
Oh yeah: Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich...
...and the reason I bring it up is that Me and Orson Welles stars one of the hottest actors from his generation, Zac Efron. I'm curious about how things have changed. I would imagine that when you did The Newton Boys, there wasn't a lot of paparazzi hanging out outside the set.
No! Totally different era. I told Zac that he's in the wrong era, man -- everyone can take a picture of him. It used to be that you could go to a bar and your every move wasn't on the internet. Like wow, what a small fishbowl that must feel like to be him right now. It's really tough. Having been around names like that in previous years, it's a whole different culture.
Back in the day, with that cast, there was no question that Newton Boys would get released. However, Me and Orson Welles had to wait a long time after first screening to find a distributor, even though it stars one of the biggest names going. Did that freak you out?
Well, what's happened in the eleven years since Newton Boys is that this film would have been a studio film back then. Hollywood quit making this movie -- they just din't make films like this anymore. It doesn't fit into the business model of $200 million films that make $800 million. Shareholder responsibility and all that. This has become an endangered species of a movie, and in my heart, I have to think there's an audience who would appreciate it.
You've made a lot of nonstudio films, and I would think that you might believe, "OK, I've got this process licked." Does it feel like suddenly the rug has been pulled out from under you?
Oh, I know. The second you feel a comfort zone, the ground shifts. My own experience told me, "Just when you think you know something, everything changes." But it's the arts, and it keeps you on your feet. That's what makes it such a fascinating industry, people on the inside care about all that. Like in the computer industry, who cares where the software comes from? But in film, it's such a fascinating world.
Do you think that taking a film like this is strategic from Zac's point of view?
I don't know. I would hope that in Zac's career, it means something. I thought he was the best guy for this movie -- I needed a leading man, and Zac is one. He's got a lot of charisma, the camera loves him, he's really gifted and a triple threat. Each generation has a group of actors that you keep up with -- they do different things and have these long careers -- and I really think he's one of those guys. It's weird, though: If you're starting out at his age and no one knows you, you're at the 50-yard line, but starting out having had his early success, it's like he's almost penalized. He's starting from the end zone, he's pushed back a bit. He just has to work his way out.
Zac and Claire have worked in the business for a long time, and in fact, you've worked with a lot of child actors and a lot of actors who grew up in this industry. Do you see any common thread with those types of people?
Yeah, there's a mentality. You know, it's hard to [be a child actor] and not be conflicted. I know Ethan Hawke was in a movie when he was 13, Explorers, and Ethan really didn't have the mentality at that age. He's more of a conflicted guy, so he went back to school and didn't act until he was 18 or 19. That wasn't what he was really meant to do, whereas other people stayed with it. It's all about where you're at in your stage of development, and Zac is one of the least conflicted guys about his own talent that I've ever met. He had every reason to be intimidated -- he's this kid from California flying to London who doesn't know anybody and he's thrown into an ensemble with these serious, great actors -- and he showed up and became a team leader in his own way. He was set up to be the punk that no one liked, but it was the opposite. He wasn't intimidated -- or if he was, he hid it really well.
I've also been interested in a movie you've been shooting for a long time...
Ah! The 12-year project, or Growing Up -- whatever we're calling it?
Right, the movie you shoot a little bit of every year with Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, and some child actors. I remember reading about it back in the wilder days of the internet when it seemed like a crazy rumor.
Early on, I wanted to keep it secret, because it's hard to describe. The very first year, someone in the trades heard about it through the agent of one of the actors, I think. It was up there, and I asked them to take it down and they didn't. I do get asked about that every so often. It's such a weird idea -- I wanted to make this film about childhood but I couldn't decide which period to focus on, so I had this idea, "Let's just film it over many years. Has anyone ever done that?" I mean, like, the Up movies do it every 7 years, but that's a documentary, whereas, there's this seamless growing-up thing I'm trying to do. I just filmed another year of it a week ago today.
Have you run into any challenges you weren't anticipating?
Well, every year is its own challenge. But it's fun! It's a living, breathing thing, you know? I cast the main kid as a 6-year-old, and he's now 14.
That's got to have been a primer on how to work with child actors in itself.
It actually always helped me! Like on School of Rock or Bad News Bears, I had been thinking about childhood already. Now I'm into the teen years, so it's going to segue into some weird, perverted version of Dazed and Confused or something. [Laughs] I get a year to think about it, and then we shoot it in two or three days every year. It's very low-budget.
Have you reworked the script as you went along?
No, I pretty much have it mapped out. I know the last shot of the movie and I know where it ends. I know I'm building toward something.
And when does the shoot end?
In about another five years or so. It's such a weird concept! I remember talking about it to Patricia Arquette -- before this, I had only met her once briefly -- and I called her up. I knew she had had a kid pretty early, and I was talking about this single mom and what I had in mind for the mom character. We talked for about three hours and she agreed to do it. We talked about, "Where are we gonna be twelve years from now?" And I said, "I'm probably going to be trying to get a movie made, if we're lucky, and you're going to be looking for a good role." And she said, "Yeah, you're right." And here we are! Every year we talk. Her character has been through a lot. The lead character is really just time.
You were never worried that the plug might somehow be pulled? How is the film financed?
Talk about a shifting industry! IFC gives me a little bit of money every year to shoot it. Back then, they had all these films, and now, I'm their only production. You can buy films for $20,000, so why produce anything? There's niches to be had out there in this crazy world.
I'm definitely curious about it.
It's an intriguing thing. I'm encouraged that I get asked about it. I just hope that people are interested when it's finally done. It's going to be two and a half hours long, minimum. If I can spend thirteen years working on something, you can spend that long watching it.