14 million dollars for a ‘spiritual sequel’ to Dazed and Confused? How is it possible that Richard Linklater can’t raise this money? That’s just the case with That’s What I’m Talking About, which remains in indie movie limbo as Linklater can’t quite secure the funding. He thinks it’s pretty commercial, according to an interview with Collider. “I carefully called it a spiritual sequel to Dazed cause it’s not the same characters. If Dazed was my High School, this is my college. It’s about a weekend in college in that time period. It’s funny…I think it’s the funniest thing I ever wrote.”
One weird thing in the interview with Collider is that Linklater says the next time he tries to get a project funded he’s going to attach actors first before going out to fundraise. It’s weird because here’s the guy who helped invent indie film and he is just now learning this most basic lesson. I guess Linklater likes to be in total control of his films and having a star involved so early on – and having the star so integral to the movie ever even happening – takes away some of that control.
Someone out there – pony up 14 mil so Linklater can make this movie. You know it’s going to be worth seeing.