Richard Linklater | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Linklater at the 2025New York Film Festival | |
| Born | Richard Linklater (1960-07-30)July 30, 1960 (age 65) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1985–present[1] |
| Spouse | Christina Harrison |
| Children | 3, includingLorelei |
| Awards | Full list |
| Website | detourfilm |
Richard Linklater (/ˈlɪnkleɪtər/; born July 30, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making films which deal thematically withsuburban culture and the effects of thepassage of time. In 2015, Linklater was named to the annualTime 100 list of the most influential people in the world.[2]
His films include the comediesSlacker (1990) andDazed and Confused (1993); the romance filmsBefore trilogy (1995–2013); the music-themed comedySchool of Rock (2003); theadult animated filmsWaking Life (2001),A Scanner Darkly (2006), andApollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age dramaBoyhood (2014); the comedy filmEverybody Wants Some!! (2016); the action romantic comedyHit Man (2023); and the biographical filmsBlue Moon (2025) andNouvelle Vague (2025).
Many of Linklater's films are noted for their loosely structured narratives. TheBefore trilogy andBoyhood both feature the same actors filmed over an extended period of years. He has received fiveAcademy Award nominations and won theSilver Bear for Best Director forBefore Sunrise. He also won aGolden Globe Award for directingBoyhood.
Linklater was born inHouston.[3] He attendedHuntsville High School inHuntsville, Texas, during grades 9–11, where he played football coached byJoe Clements as a backup quarterback for the #1 ranked team in the state. For his senior year, he moved toBellaire High School inBellaire, Texas, because he was better at baseball than football and Bellaire had a better baseball coach. As a teen he won aScholastic Art and Writing Award.[4][5]
Linklater studied atSam Houston State University inHuntsville, Texas (where he also played baseball),[6] until dropping out to work on anoffshore oil rig in theGulf of Mexico. He frequently read novels on the rig, and upon returning to land, developed a love of film through repeated visits to arepertory cinema in Houston. At that point, he realized he wanted to be a filmmaker. He used his savings to buy aSuper-8 camera, a projector, and editing equipment, and moved toAustin.[7]
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Linklater founded theAustin Film Society in 1985 with his college professor Chale Nafus,University of Texas professor Charles Ramirez-Berg,SXSW founderLouis Black, and his frequent collaboratorLee Daniel. One of the mentors for the Film Society was former New York City critic for theSoHo Weekly News George Morris, who had moved to Austin and taught film there. For several years, Linklater made many short films which were exercises and experiments in film techniques. He finally completed his first feature,It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (which is available inThe Criterion Collection edition of his second feature,Slacker), a Super-8 feature that took a year to shoot and another year to edit. Linklater created Detour Filmproduction (a homage to the1945 low budgetfilm noir byEdgar G. Ulmer), and subsequently madeSlacker for only $23,000. It grossed more than $1.25 million. The film shows an aimless day in the life of the city of Austin, Texas showcasing its more eccentric characters.
While gaining a cult following in theindependent film world, he made his third 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. This film was also responsible for the breakout of fellow Texas nativeMatthew McConaughey. In 1995, Linklater won theSilver Bear for Best Director for the filmBefore Sunrise at the45th Berlin International Film Festival.[8] His next feature,subUrbia, had mixed reviews critically, and did very poorly at the box office. In 1998, he took on his first Hollywood feature,The Newton Boys, which received mixed reviews while tanking at the box office.
With therotoscope filmsWaking Life andA Scanner Darkly, and his mainstream comedies,School of Rock and the remake ofBad News Bears, he gained wider recognition. In 2003, he wrote and directed a pilot forHBO withRodney Rothman called$5.15/hr, about severalminimum wage restaurant workers. The pilot deals with themes later examined inFast Food Nation. The British television network Channel 4 produced a documentary about Linklater, in which the filmmaker discussed the personal and philosophical ideas behind his films.St Richard of Austin was presented by Ben Lewis and directed byIrshad Ashraf and broadcast on Channel 4 in December 2004 in the UK. Linklater was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his filmBefore Sunset.
Waking Life andA Scanner Darkly both usedrotoscoping animation techniques. Working withBob Sabiston and Sabiston's programRotoshop to create this effect, Linklater shot and edited both movies completely as live-action features, then employed a team of artists to "trace over" individual frames. The result is a distinctive "semi-real" quality, praised by such critics asRoger Ebert (in the case ofWaking Life) as being original and well-suited to the aims of the film.Fast Food Nation (2006) is an adaptation of the best selling book that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry. The film was entered into the2006 Cannes Film Festival[9] before being released in North America on November 17, 2006, and in Europe on March 23, 2007. The film received mixed reviews. Linklater fared better with the critics withA Scanner Darkly (released in the same year),Me and Orson Welles (2009), andBernie (2011).[10]
He was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay forBefore Midnight, the third film in theBefore... trilogy.[11]
In 2014 he released the filmBoyhood, which had been 12 years in the making.[12]Boyhood received overwhelming critical acclaim. Linklater won theGolden Globes,Critics' Choice Movie Awards, andBAFTAs for Best Director and Best Picture. He also received his first nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Director, along with nominations forBest Original Screenplay andBest Picture. For a while Linklater was attached to direct a remake ofThe Incredible Mr. Limpet forWarner Bros.[13] However, he dropped the project in favor of working on a spiritual successor toDazed and Confused, titledEverybody Wants Some!!,[13] with backing fromAnnapurna Pictures andParamount distributing the film in North America.[14] The film was released in March 2016 and was well received by critics, but it failed to recoup its budget of 10 million dollars, grossing only 4.6 million.[15][16]
In the second half of the 2010s, Linklater wrote and directed the drama filmLast Flag Flying, starringBryan Cranston,Laurence Fishburne, andSteve Carell. A sequel toHal Ashby's 1973 filmThe Last Detail, it began filming in November 2016, and was released on November 3, 2017.[17] Linklater then directedWhere'd You Go, Bernadette, based on the novel byMaria Semple and produced byAnnapurna Pictures.[18] He was attached to direct an adaptation ofGraeme Simsion's novelThe Rosie Project which would have starredJennifer Lawrence in the lead role, but he dropped out of directing when Lawrence quit the project.[19] In 2019, it was announced that Linklater would be filmingan adaptation ofStephen Sondheim's musicalMerrily We Roll Along. LikeBoyhood, it will be filmed over the course of several years, but, like the musical andthe play it is based on, will be presented inreverse chronology.[20] In 2024, Linklater directed an episode ofGod Save Texas forHBO, focusing on theprison industrial complex in Huntsville, Texas.[21]
He directed the action romantic comedyHit Man starringGlen Powell andAdria Arjona. The film premiered at the80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023 where it received critical acclaim and was picked up for distribution byNetflix and released in 2024.[22][23] In 2025, he directed the biographical filmBlue Moon revolving aroundLorenz Hart and the opening night ofRodgers and Hammerstein's musicalOklahoma! which starredEthan Hawke,Andrew Scott, andMargaret Qualley.[24] The film premiered at the75th Berlin International Film Festival to positive reviews.[25][26] In the same year his film,Nouvelle Vague about the shooting of theFrench New Wave filmBreathless directed byJean-Luc Godard, premiered at the2025 Cannes Film Festival.[27] In late 2025, bothNouvelle Vague andBlue Moon got nominated forBest Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at83rd Golden Globe Awards.
In early 2025, Linklater revealed plans for a long-gestating 19th-century American “hangout” film centered on theTranscendentalist movement, featuring figures such asRalph Waldo Emerson,Henry David Thoreau, andMargaret Fuller[28]. In January 2026, Ethan Hawke confirmed the project was moving forward, with filming scheduled for 2026 and a likely festival debut in 2027[29]. Concurrently, Linklater continues work onMerrily WeRoll Along, an ambitious multi-decade project begun in 2019 that films its cast periodically through 2040 to capture their natural aging.
Inspiration for Linklater's work was largely based on his experience viewing the filmRaging Bull.[30][31]
It made me see movies as a potential outlet for what I was thinking about and hoping to express. At that point I was an unformed artist. At that moment, something was simmering in me, butRaging Bull brought it to a boil.[32]
He was also influenced byRobert Bresson,Yasujirō Ozu,Rainer Werner Fassbinder,Éric Rohmer,François Truffaut,Josef Von Sternberg, andCarl Theodor Dreyer.[33][34] Many of Linklater's films includingSlacker,Dazed and Confused,Tape, and all three installments of theBefore Trilogy, take place in a single day. They are less plot-driven than about human interactions.[35] His films often prioritize character, mood, and philosophical inquiry, allowing scenes to unfold in real time or within compressed temporal frames.
Much of Linklater’s work is driven by conversation and philosophical inquiry. Films such asSlacker, theBefore trilogy,Waking Life, andTape rely heavily on extended dialogue to explore themes of identity, time, morality, relationships, and personal belief systems. Dialogue in these films functions as the primary dramatic engine, with characters using conversation as a means of self-examination and connection.[36] More recent works such asBlue Moon continue this approach, reinforcing Linklater’s interest in cinema as a space for ideas, reflection, and human interaction.
Linklater has also experimented extensively with animation, particularly rotoscoping, using it as a tool for memory, subjectivity, and philosophical inquiry.Waking Life (2001) employs animation to explore dreams, consciousness, and existential thought[37], whileA Scanner Darkly (2006) uses the technique to mirror paranoia, identity fracture, and altered perception[38]. InApollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022), Linklater blends rotoscoped animation with autobiographical nostalgia, evoking childhood memory and the cultural atmosphere of the 1960s space race through a subjective, recollective lens.[39]
He is known for a rehearsal-intensive, text-driven approach to filmmaking, believing that extensive preparation enables spontaneity and emotional precision on set. Rather than relying on improvisation during shooting, Linklater treats rehearsal as a central creative process, fostering collaboration and ensemble dynamics.[40] This method has contributed to performances that feel casual and unforced while being carefully constructed beneath the surface. Frequent collaboratorEthan Hawke has likened Linklater’s process to that ofSidney Lumet, stating that rehearsal is non-negotiable for the director and the primary space where creativity, ensemble dynamics, and performance are forged.[41]
Linklater lives in Austin, Texas, and refuses to live or work in Hollywood for any extended period of time. He does not maintain an active presence on any social media platform. He's openly spoken out about how social media, technology, and the constant influx of digital content is diminishing the cultural space for cinema and deep artistic appreciation, with people viewing films as "content" rather than meaningful art.[42] He also avoids sharing political opinions, calling his unfiltered political thoughts "brain snot" and seeing little value in sharing them publicly.[43]
Christina Harrison has been his partner since the 1990s.[44] In 1994 they had a daughter, and twin girls in 2004. The oldest,Lorelei Linklater, co-starred inBoyhood as the sister of the main character.
Linklater has been avegetarian since his early 20s.[45] In 2015, he explained the dietary lifestyle in aBoyhood-style documentary forPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.[46]
| † | Denotes productions that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also actor |
| 1990 | Slacker | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also actor |
| 1993 | Dazed and Confused | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1995 | Before Sunrise | Yes | Yes | No | Co-written withKim Krizan |
| 1996 | SubUrbia | Yes | No | No | |
| 1998 | The Newton Boys | Yes | Yes | No | Co-written with Claude Stanush and Clark Lee Walker |
| 2001 | Waking Life | Yes | Yes | No | Also cinematographer and actor |
| Tape | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2003 | School of Rock | Yes | No | No | |
| 2004 | Before Sunset | Yes | Yes | No | Co-written withJulie Delpy,Ethan Hawke andKim Krizan |
| 2005 | Bad News Bears | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2006 | A Scanner Darkly | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Fast Food Nation | Yes | Yes | No | Co-written withEric Schlosser | |
| 2008 | Me and Orson Welles | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2011 | Bernie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-written withSkip Hollandsworth |
| 2013 | Before Midnight | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-written withEthan Hawke andJulie Delpy |
| 2014 | Boyhood | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2016 | Everybody Wants Some!! | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2017 | Last Flag Flying | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-written withDarryl Ponicsan |
| 2019 | Where'd You Go, Bernadette | Yes | Yes | No | Co-written with Holly Gent and Vince Palmo |
| 2022 | Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2023 | Hit Man | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-written withGlen Powell |
| 2025 | Blue Moon | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Nouvelle Vague | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| TBA | Merrily We Roll Along† | Yes | Yes | Yes | Filming, until at least 2040[47] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books | Unnamed character | |
| 1990 | Slacker | "Should Have Stayed at the Bus Station" | |
| 1995 | The Underneath | Ember Doorman | |
| 1995 | Before Sunrise | Foosball player | |
| 1996 | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America | Tour Bus Driver | Voice role |
| 1998 | Scotch and Milk | Cab Passenger | |
| 2001 | Spy Kids | Cool Spy | |
| Chelsea Walls | Crony #2 | ||
| Waking Life | Pinball Playing Man / Man on Back of Boat | ||
| 2006 | The Hottest State | John Wayne Enthusiast | |
| 2008 | RSO (Registered Sex Offender) | Principal Mallard | |
| 2018 | Blaze | Oilman #3 | |
| 2019 | Another Day at the Office | Rick |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Woodshock | Yes | No | No |
| 2003 | Live from Shiva's Dance Floor | Yes | No | No |
| 2019 | Another Day at the Office | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | $5.15/Hr. | Yes | Yes | Yes | TV pilot |
| 2012 | Up to Speed | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2016–2018 | School of Rock[48] | No | No | Executive | |
| 2020 | That Animal Rescue Show | Yes | No | Executive | Directed 2 Episodes |
| 2024 | God Save Texas | Yes | No | Executive | Episode: "Hometown Prison" |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books | Yes | Yes | Yes | Amateur film; also actor, cinematographer and editor |
| 1991 | Heads I Win/Tails You Lose | Yes | Yes | Yes | Experimental video project |
| 2008 | Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach | Yes | No | No | Documentary film |
| 2015 | I Dream Too Much | No | No | Executive |
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| Slacker | 85%[49] | 69[50] |
| Dazed and Confused | 94%[51] | 78[52] |
| Before Sunrise | 100%[53] | 77[54] |
| SubUrbia | 64%[55] | 62[56] |
| The Newton Boys | 62%[57] | 57[58] |
| Waking Life | 80%[59] | 82[60] |
| Tape | 78%[61] | 71[62] |
| School of Rock | 92%[63] | 82[64] |
| Before Sunset | 95%[65] | 90[66] |
| Bad News Bears | 48%[67] | 65[68] |
| A Scanner Darkly | 69%[69] | 73[70] |
| Fast Food Nation | 50%[71] | 64[72] |
| Me and Orson Welles | 85%[73] | 73[74] |
| Bernie | 90%[75] | 75[76] |
| Before Midnight | 98%[77] | 94[78] |
| Boyhood | 97%[79] | 100[80] |
| Everybody Wants Some!! | 88%[81] | 83[82] |
| Last Flag Flying | 73%[83] | 65[84] |
| Where'd You Go, Bernadette | 48%[85] | 51[86] |
| Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood | 91%[87] | 79[88] |
| Hit Man | 95%[89] | 82[90] |
| Blue Moon | 90%[91] | 78[92] |
| Nouvelle Vague | 90%[93] | 76[94] |
| Average | 80.4% | 73 |
| Film | Release date | Revenue | Budget | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Outside US | Worldwide | ||||
| Slacker | July 27, 1990 (1990-07-27) | $1,228,208 | N/a | $1,228,208 | $23,000 | [95] |
| Dazed and Confused | September 24, 1993 (1993-09-24) | $7,993,039 | N/a | $7,993,039 | $6,900,000 | [96] |
| Before Sunrise | January 27, 1995 (1995-01-27) | $5,535,405 | N/a | $5,535,405 | $2,500,000 | [97] |
| SubUrbia | February 7, 1997 (1997-02-07) | $656,747 | N/a | $656,747 | N/a | [98] |
| The Newton Boys | March 27, 1998 (1998-03-27) | $10,452,012 | N/a | $10,452,012 | $27,000,000 | [99] |
| Waking Life | October 19, 2001 (2001-10-19) | $2,901,447 | $275,433 | $3,176,880 | N/a | [100] |
| Tape | November 2, 2001 (2001-11-02) | $490,475 | $25,425 | $515,900 | $100,000 | [101] |
| School of Rock | October 3, 2003 (2003-10-03) | $81,261,177 | $50,021,772 | $131,282,949 | $35,000,000 | [102] |
| Before Sunset | July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02) | $5,820,649 | $10,171,966 | $15,992,615 | $2,700,000 | [103] |
| Bad News Bears | July 22, 2005 (2005-07-22) | $32,868,349 | $1,384,498 | $34,252,847 | $35,000,000 | [104] |
| A Scanner Darkly | July 7, 2006 (2006-07-07) | $5,501,616 | $2,158,302 | $7,659,918 | $8,700,000 | [105][106] |
| Fast Food Nation | November 17, 2006 (2006-11-17) | $1,005,539 | $1,203,783 | $2,209,322 | N/a | [107] |
| Me and Orson Welles | November 25, 2009 (2009-11-25) | $1,190,003 | $1,146,169 | $2,336,172 | $25,000,000 | [108] |
| Bernie | April 27, 2012 (2012-04-27) | $9,206,470 | $884,171 | $10,090,641 | $6,000,000 | [109] |
| Before Midnight | May 24, 2013 (2013-05-24) | $8,114,627 | $3,061,842 | $23,376,973 | $3,000,000 | [110][111] |
| Boyhood | July 11, 2014 (2014-07-11) | $25,352,281 | $22,785,385 | $48,137,666 | $4,000,000 | [112] |
| Total | $198,132,207 | $89,476,361 | $287,608,568 | $155,923,000 | ||
| Year | Title | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Globe Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | ||
| 2003 | School of Rock | 1 | |||||
| 2004 | Before Sunset | 1 | |||||
| 2008 | Me and Orson Welles | 1 | |||||
| 2011 | Bernie | 1 | |||||
| 2013 | Before Midnight | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 2014 | Boyhood | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| 2019 | Where'd You Go, Bernadette | 1 | |||||
| 2023 | Hit Man | 1 | |||||
| 2025 | Blue Moon | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 2025 | Nouvelle Vague | 1 | |||||
| Total | 10 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 3 | |
Directed Academy Award performances
Under Linklater's direction, these actors have received the Academy Award nominations and wins for their performances in their respective roles.
| Year | Performer | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Award for Best Actor | |||
| 2025 | Ethan Hawke | Blue Moon | Pending |
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor | |||
| 2014 | Ethan Hawke | Boyhood | Nominated |
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |||
| 2014 | Patricia Arquette | Boyhood | Won |
