As we reported back in early June, Richard Linklater was picking himself up and dusting himself off from the kick in the dirt that was the shelving of both his girls-on-a-road-trip Obama inauguration flick “Liars A-E” and “That’s What I’m Talking About,” the spiritual sequel to “Dazed and Confused.” He wrote his intended rebound project, “Bernie,” based on a true-crime story out of East Texas that Linklater wrote 10 years ago. And when we spoke to Linklater he described the project as, “my ‘Fargo’ in East Texas, where I grew up, so it’s crazy local with fifty characters. It’s about a funeral home assistant who befriends this old lady.”
News arrives today Via Bleeding Cool and Short Film Texas that, “Bernie” is indeed a go with Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine attached to star, and the shoot gearing up to start in Texas this fall. Linklater’s even put out the casting call in Texas for folks “who are not necessarily professional actors…the real deal – funny and interesting folks. There are a lot of small parts in the movie, mostly for people over 40.”
Short Film also released a blurb from the Texas Monthly article that inspired Linklater and script co-writer Skip Hollandsworth. The tale also inspired the made-for-TV movie, “Strange Felony.” The unusual tale, as described by Texas Monthly:
“This past August, however, Carthage captured the attention of the entire country when the news broke that the town’s richest and snootiest widow, 81-year-old Mrs. Marjorie Nugent, had been found in the bottom of a large freezer in her home. What made the story peculiar was that Mrs. Nugent had been dead for almost nine months before people began searching for her. What made the story truly bizarre was the way many of the townspeople rallied around the 39-year-old man who had admitted to killing her and stealing her money — the soft-spoken, chubby-cheeked Bernie Tiede, the former assistant funeral director at Hawthorn Funeral Home who had gotten close to Mrs. Nugent when he supervised her husband’s funeral.”
Black and MacLaine are the perfect choices to bring life to this little dark comedy, and if Black can dial down the man-child-possessed-by-sugar-demons energy with which he tackles almost every role, this could perhaps be a transcendent performance by him (though his maniac approach did work wonders for Linklater’s cute and enjoyable, “School Of Rock.”) There’s a lot to be excited about, not the least of which is Linklater getting back into the directing saddle. Look for more news on this coming soon… and or right now. The trades have confirmed. It’s a Castle Rock/Mandalay Vision film and it will shoot in October. Glad to hear that Linklater is officially back.