Richard Linklater on Movies, Austin and ‘Doing Exactly What You Want to Be Doing’

“As a musician, a writer, a filmmaker, your best friend is low overhead. So you can actually spend your time – I’m all about time – spending as much time in this world doing exactly what you want to be doing.”

By Laura RiceNovember 25, 2016 9:30 am,

Austin-based film director Richard Linklater wowed crowds with his 12-year opus “Boyhood” in 2014. He followed that up with an early 1980s college party film, “Everybody Wants Some,” which some are calling a “spiritual sequel” to one of his first breakout hits,”Dazed and Confused.”

The Texas Standard decided to put together a “spiritual sequel” of our own. We put together the best clips left on the cutting room floor from our interview with Linklater earlier this year.

He told us the success he began to reach in the early 90s – as he was in his early 30s – by no means happened overnight. He says it was seven or eight years of working to the bone.

“It was great. Good years. Fun, passionate – just put all that time watching movies, edit footage all night, shoot film, write, read,” Linklater says. “But it takes a while to really figure it out.”

On not following through on his dream to be a professional baseball player:

“I think of how success in one area affects you doing success in another. I have friends who were pro-athletes who had careers and it’s interesting to see them get on with the second part of their life. Because a professional career, no matter how successful and how long, you still – you’re a young person.”

“I wanted to play ball and then finish my novels in the offseason. Maybe write on the road the day off and then be a novelist. I was gonna have this baseball-novelist career. … Neither one was ultimately me.”

On whether Austin’s growth is for the better:

“When your favorite club shuts down – when Las Manitas closed to build a parking lot, you know, that’s never fun. No, that sucks. Like everybody who’s been here a while – that’s like losing a family member.”

“I don’t promote the growth but … I do like that there’s just more going on. There really is. There’s more opportunity.”

On young 20-somethings starting out on their dreams in Austin:

“I think it’s hard to embark on an artistic career. As a musician, a writer, a filmmaker, your best friend is low overhead. So you can actually spend your time – I’m all about time – spending as much time in this world doing exactly what you want to be doing. And if you’re an artist that’s making your art. … So it’s hard to kind of find a niche in the world and find your way.”

On the film industry now vs. when he started out:

“It’s cheaper to make a movie now. You can just edit it on your laptop. It was a much bigger undertaking back then, the notion of an indie film. But the triumph of getting one done in the 80s, 90s, is that not many people were doing it. ”

“[Now] everyone can do it. You have to think the original storytellers are those who have something to say – whatever talent will kind of naturally drift to the top. But it’s hard to have the impact or to stand out. … Good time to be a filmmaker, tough time to get your film seen.”

Post by Beth Cortez-Neavel.