Based on the idea that the first 21 years of an artist’s career can define them, directors Michael Dunaway and Tara Wood look back at Richard Linklater’s impressive slate of films in the new documentary 21 Years.
The trailer features tributes from past collaborators including Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Jack Black and others inspired by the filmmaking Texan such as Clerks director Kevin Smith.
Black calls Linklater a “sneaky Shakespeare”. Delpy says “he’s very wise and very laid back”. Hawke believes “he’s on to something special”. McConaughey (who made an early movie appearance in Dazed And Confused) summed up his feelings in his own inimitable style: “Alright. Alright. Alright!”
During a career kick-started by the stoner comedy Slacker, Linklater has found success with anarchic kids movie School Of Rock, rotoscope animation A Scanner Darkly and the Before trilogy.
The director is strongly tipped for an Oscar nomination for his latest film Boyhood. It features scenes shot by Linklater across a period of 12 years as lead actor Ellar Coltrane went through adolescence.
Linklater will follow Boyhood with a project he’s referred to as the spiritual sequel to his 1993 high school comedy Dazed And Confused which was set in the ’70s.
Inspired by his own college years, the Fast Food Nation director’s next film, titled That’s What I’m Talking About, will be set on a 1980s university campus and revolve around the trials and tribulations of a group of friends trying to make the baseball team during their first year.
21 Years is available via iTunes on November 7. Watch the trailer below.