Richard Linklater Height, Weight, Age, Body Statistics

Richard Linklater is an American filmmaker, who was born and brought up in the state of Texas, in the U.S. His parents divorced when he was 7 and he lived with his mother in the town of Huntsville. At the age of 17, he moved to Houston to live with his father so that he could play for a prestigious high-school baseball team. He wanted to become a professional baseball player and played at the university level as well, but his dreams came to a halt when he was diagnosed with an arrhythmic heart condition, that prevented him from running. He dropped out of university to work on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He frequently read novels there and upon returning, developed a love for films through repeated visits to a theatre in Houston. He used his savings to buy a camera, a projector, some editing equipment; and moved to Austin, Texas. He joined the Austin Community College in 1984, to study film.

For many years, Richard made experimental short films. He ultimately completed his first feature film, It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books in 1988. The film is significant as it establishes most of Richard’s idiosyncrasies and trademark styles such as minimal camera movements, loosely structured narratives, and the themes of directionless traveling and suburban culture. Richard created Detour Film Production and produced his 2nd film in 1990, Slacker, for just USD 23,000. It grossed USD 1.25 million. The film simply exhibits an aimless day in the life of people in Austin, Texas. It became a hit at Sundance and began a renaissance in independent filmmaking. As he started gaining a cult following in the sphere of independent films, he made his 3rd film, Dazed and Confused (1993). It was based on his experiences at a high school. The film garnered critical praise and went on to become a cult classic.

His 1995 film Before Sunrise was also a critical and commercial success. His next film, SubUrbia (1996), garnered mixed reviews critically and failed at the box office. In 1998, he directed The Newton Boys, which again received mixed reviews and sank at the box office. With subsequent films Waking Life (2001), School of Rock (2003), Before Sunset (2004), Bad News Bears (2005) and A Scanner Darkly (2006), he entered into the mainstream conscience and gained wider recognition and popularity. His next few films; Me and Orson Welles (2008), Bernie (2011), and Before Midnight (2013) were well received by critics. In 2014, he released his most ambitious project – Boyhood. It was filmed in spurts, over 12 years, to tell a story of a six-year-old boy’s coming of age. The movie received tremendous acclaim and earned him multiple nominations and awards. Post Boyhood, Richard was slated to direct a remake of The Incredible Mr. Limpet for Warner Brothers. But he dropped out of the project to develop a sequel to his 1993 film Dazed and Confused. It was titled Everybody Wants Some!!. It was released in March 2016 and even though it was received well by critics, it did not even recoup half of its production budget. In 2017, the film Last Flag Flying, which Richard wrote and directed, was released. It starred Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell. He then directed Where’d You Go, Bernadette, which was released in 2019. In 2019, it was announced that Richard would be adapting the musical Merrily We Roll Along into a film.

Born Name

Richard Stuart Linklater

Nick Name

Rick

Sun Sign

Leo

Born Place

Houston, Texas, United States

Residence

Austin, Texas, United States

Nationality

Education

Richard studied at Huntsville High School in Texas, during grades 9–11. Then, he moved to Bellaire High School during his senior year because he was better at baseball than football and Bellaire had a better baseball coach/team. He earned a baseball scholarship to study at Sam Houston State University, until dropping out.

He later joined Austin Community College in 1984 to study film.

Occupation

Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Family

• Father – Charles W. Linklater III
• Mother – Diane Margaret (Died in 2017) (University Professor)
• Siblings – Tricia Linklater (Sister) (Producer/Editor), Susan Parthasarathy (Sister)

Build

Athletic

Height

5 ft 9 in or 175 cm

Weight

76 kg or 167.5 pounds

Girlfriend / Spouse

Richard has been in a relationship with Christina Harrison since the 1990s. Even though they are not married; they had a daughter in 1994 named Lorelei Linklater. They also had twin girls in 2004; named Alina Linklater and Charlotte Linklater.

Race / Ethnicity

White

Hair Color

Salt and Pepper

Eye Color

Gray

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Unkempt Hair
• Light, Salt-and-Pepper Stubble

Best Known For

Directing and Producing movies like Boyhood (2014), Before Midnight (2013), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Before Sunset (2004), Waking Life (2001), Before Sunrise (1995), Dazed and Confused (1993), and Slacker (1990)

First Film

Richard’s feature film directorial debut was the 1988 movie It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books. The film also features a small dialogue and Richard made his feature film acting debut in the same film.

First TV Show

In 2012, Richard wrote, directed, and produced 6 episodes of his maiden TV series titled Up to Speed.

Richard Linklater Favorite Things

• Movies – Andrei Rublev (1966), Au Hasard Balthazar (1966), The Flowers of St. Francis (1950), Day of Wrath (1943), Tokyo Story (1953), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Unfaithfully Yours (1948), Fanny and Alexander (1982) – Television Version, Pickpocket (1959), I Know Where I’m Going! (1945)

Source – IMDb

Richard Linklater Facts

1. At his high school, Richard played football as a backup quarterback for the top-ranked team in the state.
2. As a teen, Linklater won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award.
3. Richard has been a vegetarian since his early 20s.
4. He founded, in 1985, and serves as the Artistic Director, of Austin Film Society. The society has educational programs, showcases films from around the world in Austin, and has been giving out grants to Texan filmmakers since 1996.
5. His 1993 film Dazed and Confused helped in jumpstarting the careers of actors like Matthew McConaughey, Renee Zellweger, Parker Posey, and Ben Affleck.
6. In 1995, Richard won the Silver Bear for Best Director award for the film Before Sunrise at the ’45th Berlin International Film Festival’.
7. In 2003, Richard wrote and directed a pilot for HBO called $5.15/hr, about minimum wage restaurant workers. The themes from this pilot were later taken up in his 2006 film Fast Food Nation. The film was entered into that year’s Cannes Film Festival.
8. British network Channel 4 produced a documentary about Richard, where he talks about the personal and philosophical ideas in his films.
9. His films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006); both used ‘rotoscoping animation techniques’, resulting in distinctive ‘semi-real’ quality, that received fulsome applaud from the critics.
10. At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, he became the first director in 59 years to showcase two films in the same year; Fast Food Nation and A Scanner Darkly.
11. A Scanner Darkly (2006), Me and Orson Welles (2008) and Bernie (2011); all three of these films directed by Richard were named Best Austin Film by the ‘Austin Film Critics Association’.
12. For his 2014 film Boyhood; Richard won both Best Director and Best Picture at/from the ‘Golden Globes’, ‘BAFTAS’, ‘Critics’ Choice Movie Awards’, ‘Los Angeles Film Critics Association’, ‘Boston Society of Film Critics’, ‘New York Film Critics Circle’, ‘Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association’ and ‘New York Film Critics Online’. The film also earned him his first ‘Academy Award’ nomination for Best Director. He also earned nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.
13. In 2015, he was included in the annual ‘Time 100 List’ of the 100 most influential people in the world.
14. Richard has stated that the 1980 film Raging Bull was a significant influence on his craft. He has also been impacted by the works of filmmakers like Robert Bresson, Yasujirō Ozu, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Josef Von Sternberg, and Carl Theodor Dreyer.
15. Richard was picked to direct an adaptation of Graeme Simsion’s novel The Rosie Project. Jennifer Lawrence was selected for the lead role, but Richard dropped out of directing when Lawrence moved out of the project.
16. A couple of Richard’s films like Slacker (1990), Dazed and Confused (1993), and Before Sunrise (1995); depict their stories of a single day.
17. He often works with the same actors in multiple movies. Ethan Hawke and Matthew McConaughey have appeared in many of Richard’s films. Richard is the Godfather of Ethan’s son, Levon Thurman-Hawke.
18. Richard’s films often take place in Texas, often reference Little League baseball, often feature musical scores by Graham Reynolds and frequently revolves around children or teenagers.
19. In October 2004, three of Richard’s former friends – Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater, and Richard ‘Pink’ Floyd – sued him for using their names and showing them as stoners in the film Dazed and Confused (1993). They claimed that it damaged their reputation.
20. In March 2007, Richard was inducted into the ‘Texas Film Hall of Fame’.
21. Despite his long-term success in the movies, Richard still lives in Austin, rather than Hollywood, opting to stay close to the Houston area where he was born and brought up.
22. In 2018, Richard shot an advertisement titled Tough as Texas. It features a Texan coffee shop, and a distinctly Texan man, who takes pot-shots at politician Ted Cruz. This came during the political race for a Senate position from Texas.
23. Visit his official website @ detourfilm.com.
24. Richard doesn’t have a personal/active presence on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Featured Image by Siebbi / Ipernity / CC BY 3.0