RICHARD LINKLATER

Early Life

Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, and initially studied at Sam Houston State University before dropping out to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He frequently read novels on the rig and, upon returning to land, developed a love of film through repeated visits to a repertory theater in Houston. At this point, Linklater realized he wanted to be a filmmaker. He used his savings to buy a Super-8 camera, a projector, and editing equipment, and moved to Austin, Texas. He was influenced by Robert Bresson, Yasujiro Ozu, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Josef Von Sternberg, and Carl Theodor Dreyer. He enrolled in Austin Community College in the fall of 1984 to study film.



Career

Early Life

For several years, Linklater made many short films that were, more than anything, exercises and experiments in film techniques. He finally completed his first feature, the rarely seen Super-8 feature, "It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books", that is significant for establishing most of Linklater's preoccupations; it has his trademark style of minimal camera movements and lack of narrative while examing the theme of traveling with no real particular direction in mind. He gained a cult following in the independent film world, he made his second film, "Dazed and Confused", based on his years at Huntsville High School and the people he encountered there. The film garnered critical praise and grossed $8 million in the United States while becoming a hit on VHS. In 1995, Linklater won the Silver Bear for Best Director for the film Before Sunrise at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.



Style and Recent Work

Many of Linklater's take place in one day, a narrative approach that has gained popularity in recent years. "Slacker", "Dazed and Confused", "Tape", "Before Sunrise", "Before Sunset", and "Before Midnight" are examples of this method. Two of his films, "A Scanner Darkly" and "Waking Life", used rotoscoping animation techniques. This technique has a distinctive "semi-realistic quality", praised by such critics as Roger Ebert as being original and well-suited to the aims of the film. Along with his rotoscope films, he has gained wide recognition with mainstream comedies such as School of Rock and Bad New Bears. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay for Before Sunset and Before Midnight. Recently he has released a string of critically acclaimed films, including Bernie, Me and Orson Welles, and 2014’s Boyhood. Boyhood was filmed over a period of 12 years and is currently the best reviewed film of the year.



Filmography

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