Richard Linklater isn’t used to talking about himself, judging from the first couple of questions I ask. Just when I think he’s going to go off about something, there’s a slight hesitation in his voice, as if he’s uncertain how to proceed.
“I was an offshore oil worker for 18 months. I went two years to this east Texas college, which was pretty uneventful. I was an English and drama major. I learned just enough to know I could be learning on my own. I wanted to read, so I spent several good years just reading and watching movies. That was my “slacker” period, where I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I was writing a lot.
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“That’s a form of story telling,” Linklater insists. “You go into a community, and you have people talking and communicating, passing on stories to other people. I’d seen other films by Bunuel. I was explaining my film to someone on the crew, and they said, ‘Oh yeah, there’s a Bunuel film like that.’”
