How a failed sequel led Jack Black to his greatest role: “We weren’t on the same page”
For every movie made in Hollywood, countless others fall by the wayside somewhere along the way and never see the light of day. Some of the industry’s biggest stars have fallen prey to their projects dying on the vine over the years, including Jack Black, who spent years vainly trying to bring a sequel to one of his most beloved roles to life.
The story of Black’s failed attempts to return to the role that defined him stretches back to 2008, when it was announced that School of Rock 2: America Rocks had entered development. Five years earlier, School of Rock had made Black a star, with his manic-yet-sweet performance as the good-natured fake substitute teacher, rock and roller Dewey Finn, crystallising everything great about his onscreen persona.
Naturally, the actor/musician was always keen to make a sequel, but he insisted it must involve director Richard Linklater and writer Mike White again, because they were so integral to making the first film what it was. “I’d really like to do it, the last one was great,” Black said at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. “We are seriously thinking about it; there’s already a script. In a few weeks, we have to decide if we go through with the project or not.”
Unfortunately, despite White seemingly penning the sequel, which reportedly would have taken Finn and a new group of students on a cross-country trip to learn the history of rock and roll, nothing solid materialised over the next four years. Then, in 2012, a crestfallen Black admitted to Page Six, “I tried really hard to get all the pieces together. I wouldn’t want to do it without the original writer and director, and we never all got together and saw eye-to-eye on what the script would be.”
It’s unclear if Black meant that the America Rocks script was never quite as complete as the announcement made it out to be, or if all three parties simply were never entirely happy with it. Either way, at that point, the sequel looked very unlikely, with the actor musing, “It was not meant to be, unfortunately. But never say never”.
However, thankfully for the Kung Fu Panda star, there was a silver lining to his foiled efforts at returning to Dewey Finn. In 2012, Black revealed that talking about School of Rock 2 naturally put him in extended contact with Linklater, and after a stalemate was reached about White’s script, the acclaimed indie director made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“Richard said that there was another project he had been working on for a long time that he’d love to do,” he told Vanity Fair. “I read it, loved it, and said I’d love to do it”.
That project was Bernie, a black comedy about the real-life murder of an octogenarian millionaire by her 39-year-old friend and companion, Bernhardt ‘Bernie’ Tiede, a kindly mortician. The real case took place in Carthage, Texas, in 1996, and was notable because public support remained on Bernie’s side, even after he was convicted of murder. You see, the victim, Marjorie Nugent, was despised by the local community, with her own nephew dubbing her “the meanest woman in East Texas”, while Bernie was a beloved member of the community who many believed had been pushed into the crime by Nugent’s acid tongue.
The film wasn’t a huge box office hit, but it charmed critics, with Black’s performance being singled out as arguably the best he’s ever given. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy’, and he got to work with the legendary Shirley MacLaine in the movie. All things considered, that ain’t bad for a film that only came his way after School of Rock 2 failed to get off the ground.
