Richard Linklater is an American independent film director. Twice nominated for an Oscar in the category "Best Screenplay", for the films "Before Sunset" (production of 2004) and "Before Midnight" (created in 2013). He is also a prize winner at the Berlin Film Festival for the best directorial work - the films Adolescence and Before Dawn. For the third time, he was nominated for an Oscar in 2014 for the most successful film of his career - Adolescence.
Richard Linklater, biography
The director was born in 1960 on July 30 in Houston, Texas. His childhood passed in the estate of his grandmother and maternal grandfather. After school, he entered the literary department of the University of Houston, intending to become a writer. However, the lack of money forced the young man to leave school and get a job on the platform of a Mexican oil company. Richard Linklater devoted all his free time to reading books.
At the age of twenty, the future director became interested in cinema. Once on the set, he was fascinated by the atmosphere of the creative process. Soon, Richard Linklater decided to devote his life to cinema, acquired an 8-mm Super-8 camera, a projector and the necessary equipment for installation. Then he moved to the city of Austin, since there was a college for the preparation of documentary filmmakers.
Carier start
A serious incentive for Linklater was Martin Scorsese 's 1981 movie "Raging Bull", which tells about fights without rules and the mafia that controls the competition. After reviewing the movie countless times, Richard Linklater concluded for himself that it is necessary to set such action films that keep the viewer in constant tension. In addition, the future director realized that a lot depends on the material base of the film project.
After months of experimenting with film technology, Linklater set about creating his first film, which he called "You Can't Learn to Plow by Reading Books." Filming lasted more than a year, the same amount went on installation work. The film did not make much impression at the box office, moreover, box office barely recouped the costs.
First successful project
Linklater’s next motion picture titled "Loafer" was more successful, although her budget was only 23 thousand dollars. The film was dedicated to Austin residents and talked about their lives for one day. The film attracted the attention of critics, was nominated for the Sundance Grand Prix.
In 1993, Richard Linklater made his second full-length film, which was called "Stoned in Confusion." This time the budget of the film project amounted to six million dollars. The plot focuses on a group of schoolchildren from wealthy families on the last day of study in 1976. Actors Mila Jovovich and Ben Affleck, then little-known then, were shot in the film. The director in this film was limited to the events of one day.
The plot with the continuation
In 1995, Linklater created the first film from the famous trilogy, entitled Before Dawn. The American student Jess travels to Vienna to fly to the United States. Celine, a Frenchwoman, is going to fly from Vienna to France, to enter the Sorbonne. The young man offers to stay in Vienna, one of the most romantic cities in the world, and spend evening and night together. The main roles were played by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.
For the film Before Dawn, Linklater was awarded the Silver Bear, which he was awarded at the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2004, the second part of the "Before Sunset" trilogy was released, in which the same characters met nine years later. And finally, in the third film, Before Midnight, filmed in 2013, the couple already has two children.
The director was in constant creative search, and in 1998 he decided to create a film in the classic western genre with bank robbery. “The Newton Brothers” was the name of the film project, which talks about four young people who decided to improve their affairs. Young people began to systematically rob financial institutions in America and Canada. The roles were played by Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew McConaughey and Vincent De Onofrio.
New methods
Richard Linklater shot the next two films in 2001. It was "Tape" and "Awakening of Life" - films are different in genre. In addition, in the latter, the director applied new rotoscoping techniques that give a noble shade to each shot. Linklater used the same technique when staging the 2006 film "Clouding" with Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder.
In 2003, Richard Linklater, whose films attracted more and more viewers, directed the comedy School of Rock. Starring Jack Black and Joan Cusack.
In 2006, the director was nominated for an Academy Award for best directorial work in the movie Before Sunset. And in the same year he released the film “Fast Food Nation,” an adaptation of Eric Schlosser's journalistic novel about the dangers of fast food in the United States. The film was nominated for the Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm Award.
Director Richard Linklater, whose filmography includes more than twenty films of various genres, is currently working on the script for his next film project.