MovieChat Forums > School of Rock (2003) Discussion > Dir. Linklater

Dir. Linklater

posted 5 years ago by HelpMeRhonda (1158)
2 replies | jump to latest

Watched a YouTube video by GQ where Jack Black breaks down his “iconic” roles, e.g. High Fidelity, King Kong, Orange County, The Holiday, Tropic Thunder, the Jumanjis.

He said he was afraid Richard Linklater wasn't the right choice for “School” because Linklater was known for doing artsy films like Slacker and the “Befores”. But the producer, who’s pretty famous, don’t remember his name right now, told Jack, “Man, let’s just wait and see. Trust me.”

Jack goes on to say that he realized when first meeting with Linklater that he was indeed the right guy, and that he took this goofy comedy seriously. He wanted to present this fairly outrageous scenario as if it could actually happen in real life. According to Black, that’s part of what makes the movie work so well.

And he says Linklater had a lot of say in the music that wasn’t original to the movie. Which makes sense since he’s the director, and also because the soundtrack, or soundtracks, to Dazed and Confused are amazing!!!

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

I always avoided School of Rock as the whole thing sounds depressingly stupid.
Then it was on the telly the other day and having been around as long as it has, I thought I would at least leave it on so I could get a sense of it.
When I saw Linklater was the director, I was stunned and surprised.
I still think it's a dumb movie and a payday for Linklater, but I'm happy it's given him more opportunity to pursue his own art.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 3 years ago

I've watched it with the commentary -- it's clear that Linklater was very committed to the project and put a lot of thought and effort into it. It was definitely not just a sellout/cashgrab for him.

If you ever find yourself watching it again, focus on the kids instead of Jack Black and you'll see Linklater's distinctive style. It was his idea, for example, to cast the students based on their musical ability and accomplishment instead of acting background (though they were pretty much all effective actors as well, I thought).