There’s a progression of character from “Boyhood” to “Everybody Wants Some!!” — there’s a thing about the character exiting one movie and almost walking directly into the next.
It’s almost a continuation, yeah.
Do you ever return to characters in other films, thinking about what might have happened to characters in “Dazed and Confused” or a film like that?
It’s easy to do because most of my movies are a limited time, you could almost do that with damn near everything I’ve ever done. And that goes for so many movies. The only question is why would you? What story would there be to tell that is compelling about those people and have it not just be a stunt, or something for economic reasons.
This film is as close as I would get to a sequel. And I thought, strangely, as a continuation to “Boyhood,” I wondered if a film could be two things, a sequel or continuation to two different films? It just became autobiographical, about that moment when you go off to college. If Mitch [from “Dazed and Confused”] had done that four years later, maybe. When I was filming the last scene of “Boyhood,” I was telling the actors I had a movie idea that started right there, with characters going to college, and I hoped I could make that movie. It’s funny, “Boyhood” in a way helped this get made. There’s a relationship between “Boyhood” and “Everybody Wants Some!!” that’s almost as strong as the tie to ‘Dazed.’ They start at the same time. I was thinking of “Everybody Wants Some!!” throughout this century, in the same time period as I was doing “Boyhood,” I was writing and rewriting this movie. It’s funny they end up back to back, as a continuation. Ellar in “Boyhood” is kind of the better angel of my nature, and Jake is the more carousing, extroverted, fun guy.
Did you ever consider using Ellar Coltrane as the lead in this film?
Not really, it was pretty clear from the jump that Ellar wasn’t really an athlete. That’s not where his energy went, and this was always going to be about being on a team, even though there’s not much sports in the movie, it’s all about a certain attitude.
That attitude is not a thing we see often in popular film lately.
Hardly ever! That was part of my motivation to make this, because so few movies are made about athletes. It’s usually “Oh, those are the guys who picked on me.” And baseball players aren’t bullies by and large. Not that they aren’t the same spectrum of male behavior as anyone else, but they’re no worse. Some of that behavior you’re less likely to see in baseball. There are really smart baseball players. It’s a thinking person’s game.
I wanted to show the competitiveness behind the scenes, and the more I thought about it, the testosterone of that environment. It sort of ended for me there. Looking back at my life, I was never in such a male environment again. I didn’t work on Wall Street, I found myself out of the uber-male testosterone environment. Looking back it seemed like an interesting time. These guys have a privileged little window our culture gives you if you’re an athlete. And then it’s over, boom! Something that could matter so much to you is suddenly over. Sports is cruel that way.
Thinking about the end of this film, the head goes down on the desk, and it’s potentially over for them right there. Sure. there’ll be a couple good years of college, but that blissful “king of the world” scenario is already fading.
Yeah, it’s short-lived. It’s gonna end. I told the actors they shouldn’t know that yet. They think they’ve got it figured out, they’re top of the food chain. People say there’s less conflict in the movie, and I think “what’s there to be conflicted about?” They’re at the top of the food chain, they’ve got it made.
What draws you to that particular sort of transition in people’s lives, as subjects for your films?
Hm, yeah, there are a lot of transitional moments, or moments of self where things are being defined, I see that. To me, it’s just that moment in your own development that has a cultural point, too. Sort of the end of an era. You didn’t know it at the time, but looking back you realize you got out just before… it’s almost the Last Days of Pompeii. (laughs) That’s a bit extreme, but the age is changing, everything is coming, there’s going to be a cultural backlash and everything gets worse. Looking back for me, that was a pretty good time to be young.
Prior to setting up “Everybody Wants Some!!” you had a whole variety of projects lined up — do you know how you’ll follow this?
I don’t know, it’s amazing any film gets made. You do so much work not making films, it’s amazing whenever it does happen. I have quite a few projects I’m sitting on and waiting for the perfect planetary alignment. I don’t have anything scheduled as of today, I have various things circling.
Do you have more interest in working on an independent level, or allying with a studio?
It depends on the film, what you need for it, and the origins. It’s all over the map. This film couldn’t be more independent, but it’s Paramount! I don’t make distinctions about who’s financing or what the deal is. It’s about what the story needs, what the scope is, where it wants to live. Not getting in trouble, staying out of trouble is my thing.
A little trouble can be good.
Well, I don’t want a bad creative experience, or to end up making movies no one wants… I don’t know. I try to avoid bad experiences.
Have you done a film you’d call a bad experience?
No! I think I’m good, I’ve walked away from things before they got bad. When I saw the writing on the wall, I thought “they’re not going to be happy,” or if I’m not set up to succeed. That’s when I try not to proceed. There’s always things to learn from. This one was probably one of the smoother experiences all the way down the line. Great relations with the cast, they were wonderful, and the production was very smooth, there was just enough time and money. Often everybody’s great, I just don’t have enough time, the schedule and budget is so tight that it’s really fraught. This was just enough, just enough time and money to do it right. ‘Dazed’ was fun, too, but it was just tough. It was a studio film, and my trial by fire. I had to kinda earn everything, amongst skepticism.
“Everybody Wants Some!!” is now playing. Listen to further podcast talks with Richard Linklater below.