The real-life ‘School of Rock’ once attempted to sue Richard Linklater’s movie
For me and countless others, School of Rock was incredibly formative. The Jack Black flick introduced an entire generation of youngsters to Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, The Who, Deep Purple and the pleasures of the “face-melting” guitar solo. I’d be willing to claim that most children who picked up the guitar (or, at least, learned the riff from ‘Iron Man’) from 2002-2006 did so because of School of Rock. It made rocking look so so easy, so essential, so cool. My sister and I watched the film religiously (sometimes twice on the same night) and prayed that one day we’d have a teacher as cool as Mr S. If only we’d known that there was a real School of Rock all along. In fact, the institution very nearly sued director Richard Linklater. Although, presumably, the headmaster didn’t have the necessary grasp on arithmetic, having ditched the mathematics for lessons in ‘How To Shred’.
School of Rock tells the story of an ageing wannabe rockstar called Dewey Finn. Short on cash and without a band, he decides to impersonate his flatmate, a substitute teacher called Ned Scheebly, and take up a position at a local elementary school. After witnessing the music lesson of his class, he introduces a new project that will transform them from a set of dutiful students into a well-oiled rock ‘n’ roll machine. Speaking to ET online many years after the film’s release, Jack Black said: “My best memories are just that group of kids, and how funny and great they were. It’s definitely the highlight of my career, I can say that honestly.”
Unlike Finn, Paul Green didn’t commit identity fraud. However, he was an ageing rocker waving goodbye to youthful dreams of stardom. It all started with guitar lessons, which Green taught to pay the bills. Then, “on a whim,” he invited some students to jam with him. It wasn’t long before he was teaching them about the wonders of led Zeppelin in his own school, which, being located near a parking lot across the road from a Scientology building, wasn’t your normal educational environment. In much the same way Finn’s kids play a climactic show at the local Battle of the Bands, Green would finish each semester by giving his students a chance to play in front of a real-life audience.
These similarities only came to Green’s attention in 2004, two years after the film’s release. In an interview with The Guardian, one of his students claimed that Black looked “a lot like Paul,” while another claimed that the film was clearly a rip-off of their experience in Paul’s classroom. In the end, Green decided against pursuing legal action, deciding to “reap the rewards” instead. The film, after all, had been very good for business.
At the time, Jack Black admitted that he’d “heard about this guy” but maintained that the film was in no way based on him. “If he wants to sue, go ahead. Good luck,” he concluded. On the other hand, screenwriter Mike White claimed that he’d never even heard of Paul Green, which Green found suspicious. The former teacher has since been the subject of a documentary and is currently undertaking a degree at Law school.
