SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/631812
S X S W. C O M | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 | S X S W o r l d 1 3 Richard Linklater Remembers SXSW 1997 Over the years, SXSW has delivered moments that in hindsight make people ask, "Did that really just happen?" In 1997, SXSW Film hosted one of these occasions with a panel featuring a number of the most acclaimed figures in independent film. Titled "Outside the System, Inside the System," the session brought Richard Linklater together with Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Mike Judge, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez and George Huang. "I used to come to SXSW with my husband, John Pierson, who had been an extremely active producer's rep-turned-author," remem- bers Janet Pierson, current Head of SXSW Film. "That year, we were producing our cable series, Split Screen. It was always great fun to come to SXSW from the chilly New York March to connect with friends like Linklater, who of course lived here, and Kevin Smith, who several times shared work. I remember standing by the door of that panel, agog actually with the massive talent on display, and thinking 'this is just very, very cool.' " According to Linklater: "It just kind of came together. Everybody was around at a moment, you know. I remember at the last minute we had a new moderator, so the moderator kind of got thrown in ... We all just ran with it. Everybody does their shtick. But yeah, I guess looking back on that, in that moment, we didn't know how things would go. But it was fun! Those are all good friends of mine. You look back at those moments and you go 'Wow, that doesn't happen all the time or ever again.' " To date, Linklater has ventured into studio filmmaking fewer than a handful of times over the course of his 18-film career—but that's not for a lack of Holly wood trying to lure him. Unsurprisingly, he says he has turned down a lot of big opportunities over the years. Says Linklater, "I have a pretty good sense of my own self-preser- vation about what I should be doing at any given time. When it feels totally right, I sometimes come aboard things that I don't originate. But you've got to come on with the same spirit." "You have your own reasons for doing anything," he adds. "I just don't want to be thought of as, 'Oh your film's good, so you're the right director for this.' I think that's like re-casting. You've got to pick the subject matter very carefully. For me, that's just what I'm personally drawn to: stories you're just dying to tell, and characters that really get into you." T Everybody Wants Some world premieres as the the 2016 SXSW Film Festival's Opening Night Film on Friday, March 11. Paramount Pictures will release it in theaters on April 15. The Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny documentary, directed by Louis Black (co-founder of the Austin Chronicle, SXSW and the Austin Film Society), will also screen at SXSW. Linklater will also take part in the SXsports Featured Session: "In the Dugout: The Team from Everybody Wants Some" on Saturday, March 12, open to Interactive, Film, Gold and Platinum badges. S H E L L E Y R U T L E D G E SX S W 1 9 97 p a n el i s t s: ( L- R) Ro b e r t Ro d ri g u ez , Q u e n t i n Ta r a n t i n o a n d Rich a r d Li n k la te r