Alright, alright, alright! The cult comedy movie Dazed and Confused paved the way for its star Matthew McConaughey to forge an incredibly successful career, and it also allowed filmmaker Richard Linklater to shine on the independent film scene. Linklater is now regarded as one of the best in the business, but apparently he never made any money off that first hit.
Linklater has made some of the finest romance movies to ever exist, with his Before Trilogy, and the director is back with a new movie this week, after teaming up with streaming service Netflix for the animated movie Apollo 101⁄2. But his filmmaking career has not always been a happy one, as revealed in a recent interview with The Daily Beast.
Unfortunately, it sounds like the studio behind Dazed and Confused really did a number on the inexperienced Linklater at the time, and even though the ‘90s movie made way more at the box-office than it cost to make, Linklater didn’t see a penny of the profits.
“I don’t know. Ask Universal! Hollywood accounting,” Linklater replied when asked how it’s even possible that he didn’t make any money off such a popular movie. “I remember really asking for a piece of the soundtrack, because I picked all the songs, and they were like, ‘Oh no… first film, you know?'” the director added.
“Everybody has that first story of getting screwed with their first project,” Linklater continued. “That film was an indie success. It made more than it cost theatrically, and over the years it’s been everywhere,” he concluded.
He’s every right to feel aggrieved, with Dazed and Confused reportedly costing just $7 million to produce, you have to imagine it’s made a pretty penny in the near 30 years since it was released.
However, Linklater does admit he was very “blessed” to be able to make that film in the first place, and to do it the way he wanted to. Still, it’d be a lot cooler if they paid the man.