Academy Award-nominated filmmakers are just like us! Director Richard Linklater is, apparently, owed money for his work on Dazed and Confused, his 1993 feature film about high schoolers in the 70s. The film received high critical acclaim, introduced the world to one Matthew McConaughey, and became one of the biggest cult classics in film history. And yet, writer/director Linklater has never been paid for Dazed and Confused, according to Linklater.
Linklater shared this tiny but significant detail in an interview with The Daily Beast published Tuesday. When asked about the film’s upcoming 30th anniversary and its legacy, Linklater said, “Yeah, and it’s like… where’s my money? How come a movie that cost less than $7 million has $12 million in interest against it?” When The Daily Beast, in understandable shock, followed up by asking if he made any money off of the movie, Linklater said, “F*ck no!”
Linklater didn’t really have an explanation for why he allegedly hasn’t received any payment for Dazed and Confused. “I don’t know. Ask Universal! Hollywood accounting,” he said. “Everybody has that first story of getting screwed with their first project. That film was an indie success. It made more than it cost theatrically, and over the years it’s been everywhere,” he added.
Despite apparently not receiving any payment for Dazed and Confused, Linklater is, like many creatives who do unpaid work, grateful for the experience.
“That’s such a cliché to bitch about,” he said. “But I did go through the Hollywood experience. Here I complain but they did green-light the film, and they wouldn’t green-light the film today. Cast of unknowns? Period film when not much happens, riding around? One film out of Sundance? I don’t think there’s a pitch for that movie today, so I sit here very, very blessed that I came along at a time when studios were going, hey, we’ll make this and this and then throw some chump change over to these guys. I’m still grateful I got the film made, and got it made the way I wanted it to.”
