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111 reviews for:
Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused
Melissa Maerz
4.46 AVERAGE
111 reviews for:
Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused
Melissa Maerz
4.46 AVERAGE
A fascinating, insightful, and often hilarious history about one of the best indie movies of the early 90s, how it got made, and how Hollywood had no idea how to handle it (and essentially effed it up entirely).
Fun vacation reading that let me geek out over a much-beloved movie. Maerz gets a lot of folks to talk, from major players to behind-the-scenes participants, and there's a lot of juicy gossip here. It's a quick page-turner and Maerz's research is meticulous. In fact, with 140 referenced interviewees, Maerz's research is almost too comprehensive - I regularly had to switch back to the opening "who's who" pages to remember who some of the interviewees were. Overall, though, highly enjoyable, and one that Linklater fans will especially appreciate.
A pretty remarkable overview of the production of this film that absolutely got me fired up to make something again (even as it details so many of the struggles so acutely). I have to say, I was also completely moved by McConaughey's reaction to the passing of his father, and the knowledge that some of his most famous lines in the film are informed with the weight of that grief.
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
“A God-Awful Failure of an Anti-Nostalgia Movie”
If you couldn’t tell by the copious amount of updates I made while reading this book, Dazed and Confused is my favorite film…ever actually.
Richard Linklater is a genius writer and filmmaker for one reason, and one reason only. He knows exactly what he wants to create.
The thing that surprised me the most is the process of creating this film was not premeditated or, for lack of a better word, scripted at all! There was so much creative freedom allotted for the cast and the crew that the movie that was made became something entirely different than what was pitched, BUT exactly what Richard Linklater wanted it to be.
Despite the overall opinion from the majority of viewers that the film is a “nostalgia” film, I connected with the story Richard set out to tell. I believe there is a very small target audience for this film aside from it being a “cult classic” and widely accepted.
This book shed so much light on the reason this is one of my favorite films. I always liked to believe this was supposed to be a movie about hoping more for the future and not wanting to get stuck in a small town doing the same thing everyone else is. And mostly enjoying the present while you’re in it.
That may have been the original theme, but with the creative u-turn it took you can’t help but be nostalgic. For some, that’s even for a time you didn’t even exist.
The book explores how the nostalgia crept back in, and after understanding it you cannot help but love it. From the cast of basically random actors (some of which later become the biggest movie stars) coming together to party all summer having fun with their characters and giving life to the story authentically, to the surmounting changes to the script to allow the actors freedom to fill in the story. It completely changed the film and not necessarily in a bad way.
From start to finish, the processes of making Dazed and Confused was so casual (which is almost absurd to think about now) and getting to look inside that specific time is really incredible and created a whole new appreciation for the movie. As if I could love it any more?!?!?
Seeing where it started as an indy film picked up by a major film production, to the odd casting methods, the actors wild “summer camp” filming experience, then to the post-production war over the soundtrack, I felt like I was in it. I understand why Richard Linklater fought so hard for it to be exactly as it was. As someone who would have liked nothing more than to have been apart of it, this really scratched that itch!
If you love Dazed and Confused for more than it being the “stoner movie” PLEASEEEE READ THIS BOOK!
“You just gotta keep living man, L-I-V-I-N.”
If you couldn’t tell by the copious amount of updates I made while reading this book, Dazed and Confused is my favorite film…ever actually.
Richard Linklater is a genius writer and filmmaker for one reason, and one reason only. He knows exactly what he wants to create.
The thing that surprised me the most is the process of creating this film was not premeditated or, for lack of a better word, scripted at all! There was so much creative freedom allotted for the cast and the crew that the movie that was made became something entirely different than what was pitched, BUT exactly what Richard Linklater wanted it to be.
Despite the overall opinion from the majority of viewers that the film is a “nostalgia” film, I connected with the story Richard set out to tell. I believe there is a very small target audience for this film aside from it being a “cult classic” and widely accepted.
This book shed so much light on the reason this is one of my favorite films. I always liked to believe this was supposed to be a movie about hoping more for the future and not wanting to get stuck in a small town doing the same thing everyone else is. And mostly enjoying the present while you’re in it.
That may have been the original theme, but with the creative u-turn it took you can’t help but be nostalgic. For some, that’s even for a time you didn’t even exist.
The book explores how the nostalgia crept back in, and after understanding it you cannot help but love it. From the cast of basically random actors (some of which later become the biggest movie stars) coming together to party all summer having fun with their characters and giving life to the story authentically, to the surmounting changes to the script to allow the actors freedom to fill in the story. It completely changed the film and not necessarily in a bad way.
From start to finish, the processes of making Dazed and Confused was so casual (which is almost absurd to think about now) and getting to look inside that specific time is really incredible and created a whole new appreciation for the movie. As if I could love it any more?!?!?
Seeing where it started as an indy film picked up by a major film production, to the odd casting methods, the actors wild “summer camp” filming experience, then to the post-production war over the soundtrack, I felt like I was in it. I understand why Richard Linklater fought so hard for it to be exactly as it was. As someone who would have liked nothing more than to have been apart of it, this really scratched that itch!
If you love Dazed and Confused for more than it being the “stoner movie” PLEASEEEE READ THIS BOOK!
“You just gotta keep living man, L-I-V-I-N.”
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
Pretty great oral history, definitely worth reading if you are at all interested in film
I am a fan of many of Richard Linklater’s films and I’m willing to try any book written about his work, but I must admit I wasn’t initially too enthusiastic about getting into this one. After all, can’t Dazed and Confused be seen as a relatively mainstream Hollywood picture between the director’s more “artistic” efforts? But ultimately I found this oral history very interesting, and it often sheds like on Linklater’s working process and aesthetic in general, beyond just this picture shot in 1992.
Author Melissa Maerz managed to interview not just Linklater himself, but also the majority of cast and many crew, even the now-big names like Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey. She starts off with Linklater’s early career leading up to Dazed and Confused, and fans of his debut Slacker will find a lot of detail on that film. She then walks readers through the making of the film: the process of wooing Universal to fund the picture, the casting of the actors, the summer-long film shoot in Austin, and the wrestling with the studio as Linklater had to make a convincing final cut and clear the music rights for the rich soundtrack. There is also some discussion of the film’s reception, legacy as a cult classic, and where the actors (this was the debut of several well-known movie stars) went next in their early careers.
I learned a lot here about how Dazed and Confused was made (and how films are made in general), and why it ended up the final cut that it did. Maerz includes some extracts from Linklater’s initial script, and characters speak of scenes that were shot but ultimately discarded. Perhaps the most amusing part of the book is the tale of Shawn Andrews (who played Pickford) and Milla Jovovich. As the other interviewees recall with disgust, they both alienated the rest of the cast and the director. Andrews thought he was already a big star who could dictate how the movie could be shot, while Jovovich was dating him at the time and slavishly supportive of his egomania. Ultimately Andrews left the production and his role in the Dazed and Confused was cut to a minor part. Apparently the hard feelings have persisted, because these are the only two major actors who did not consent to be interviewed for this oral history.
It turns out that some of what the Pickford character was going to say and do was given instead to Matthew McConaughey’s character Wooderson. Next to Ben Affleck, McConaughey was the biggest male star launched by this film, and Maerz focuses heavily on him. Now, his story is an interesting one – he was a local Texas university student, already 23 years old, and he was cast through a different route than the other actors. But in my own experience of the film, Wooderson doesn’t stand out as much as some other characters, and Maerz here seems to have exploited McConaughey’s presence in the film as a way to better sell the book.
Oral histories are a risky undertaking, because they can perpetuate misunderstandings, rumours or just outright whoppers. Maerz minimized this by interviewing many of the figures twice, allowing them to deny or correct claims made other interviewees.
Author Melissa Maerz managed to interview not just Linklater himself, but also the majority of cast and many crew, even the now-big names like Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey. She starts off with Linklater’s early career leading up to Dazed and Confused, and fans of his debut Slacker will find a lot of detail on that film. She then walks readers through the making of the film: the process of wooing Universal to fund the picture, the casting of the actors, the summer-long film shoot in Austin, and the wrestling with the studio as Linklater had to make a convincing final cut and clear the music rights for the rich soundtrack. There is also some discussion of the film’s reception, legacy as a cult classic, and where the actors (this was the debut of several well-known movie stars) went next in their early careers.
I learned a lot here about how Dazed and Confused was made (and how films are made in general), and why it ended up the final cut that it did. Maerz includes some extracts from Linklater’s initial script, and characters speak of scenes that were shot but ultimately discarded. Perhaps the most amusing part of the book is the tale of Shawn Andrews (who played Pickford) and Milla Jovovich. As the other interviewees recall with disgust, they both alienated the rest of the cast and the director. Andrews thought he was already a big star who could dictate how the movie could be shot, while Jovovich was dating him at the time and slavishly supportive of his egomania. Ultimately Andrews left the production and his role in the Dazed and Confused was cut to a minor part. Apparently the hard feelings have persisted, because these are the only two major actors who did not consent to be interviewed for this oral history.
It turns out that some of what the Pickford character was going to say and do was given instead to Matthew McConaughey’s character Wooderson. Next to Ben Affleck, McConaughey was the biggest male star launched by this film, and Maerz focuses heavily on him. Now, his story is an interesting one – he was a local Texas university student, already 23 years old, and he was cast through a different route than the other actors. But in my own experience of the film, Wooderson doesn’t stand out as much as some other characters, and Maerz here seems to have exploited McConaughey’s presence in the film as a way to better sell the book.
Oral histories are a risky undertaking, because they can perpetuate misunderstandings, rumours or just outright whoppers. Maerz minimized this by interviewing many of the figures twice, allowing them to deny or correct claims made other interviewees.