The one “hate” Richard Linklater has about actors
Never one to be constrained by genre, Richard Linklater has effortlessly weaved his way through multiple forms of cinema, but one thing that’s always remained true is his reputation for being an actor’s director.
While the majority of his filmography has hailed directly from the inside of his own mind, Linklater has constantly fostered a collaborative spirit that allows his performers to put their own stamp on the characters they play, and the result has regularly been awards season recognition.
Three of Ethan Hawke’s four Academy Award nominations have come from working with Linklater, as have both of Julie Delpy’s. Jack Black has been shortlisted for two Golden Globes for his acting exploits, with Linklater directing each time. Patricia Arquette won ‘Best Supporting Actress’ at the Oscars for Boyhood, Cate Blanchett was in the running for ‘Best Actress – Musical or Comedy’ at the Globes for Where’d You Go, Bernadette, and on and on it goes.
Linklater doesn’t even view the passage of time in a conventional sense, at least not as it applies to cinema. Boyhood was an experimental marvel shot over a period of 11 years that allowed the cast to literally grow into their roles, something that most auteurs would only ever consider attempting once.
However, he’s back at it again, with production on Merrily We Roll Along set to trundle along for 20 years. That’s a huge commitment from everybody who agrees to take on a role, but it’s indicative of how performers have come to trust Linklater, knowing they’re in safe hands, dedicating two decades of their lives to a single feature.
There are some things he absolutely doesn’t care for, though, but Steve Carrel fortunately found himself on exactly the same wavelength as his Last Flag Flying director. The Office alum stars alongside Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne in the story of three Vietnam veterans reuniting after 30 years to bury the son of one of their number, who was killed in Iraq.
The majority of the burden is shouldered by the easy-going chemistry generated between the three leads, but when Carrel questioned Linklater over his character’s motivations for embarking on the road trip at the centre of the narrative in the first place, the filmmaker was thrilled to discover the absence of a definitive answer was seen as a positive.
“I was like, ‘You know, I don’t really know’. Most actors would run from a director who doesn’t have that answer, but I was like, ‘I think Doc’s being pulled by reasons he doesn’t even know,'” he explained to Backstage. “And Steve was like, ‘That’s good. That’s what I was thinking’. He was kind of on that same wavelength; an ambiguous, kind of didn’t-have-the-answers approach that I like.”
Continuing, Linklater revealed his disdain for the opposite. “I hate an actor who’s like, ‘I’m gonna hit this note and it’s gonna mean this, and I’m gonna hit that note and it’s gonna mean that.'” Meticulous preparations be damned, he’d much rather his cast simply felt things in the moment.
