Entertainment One Films US
For the last 12 years, you could say that Richard Linklater has been just a little bit busy developing Boyhood, his triumph of a film concerning the growth and life of a boy from childhood through adolescence – in real time. And while that ate up a dozen actual years, Linklater didn’t put all his eggs in one basket. As with his Boyhood cast, he allowed himself to work on other projects and tinker with new ideas for future films. One such project is the long-awaited follow-up to his 1993 masterpiece Dazed and Confused.
The Playlist reports that Linklater has begun casting this “spiritual sequel” (as Linklater has called it), which is titled That’s What I’m Talking About. He sent offers for three of the lead roles to the following up-and-coming young actors: Blake Jenner (Ryder from Glee – you know, the one that got catfished by another Glee club member), Tyler Hoechlin (the Teen Wolf from Teen Wolf) and Wyatt Russell (Zook from 22 Jump Street and the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn).
It’s a strong and smart move to take three talented actors who are still getting their footing in the industry. Dazed is bursting at the seams with exceptionally gifted A-list level actors and actresses, but at the time the film was made, they weren’t exactly holding the same status. Take a long, hard look at Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey from 1993 and think about them today. If the film is anywhere as enjoyable as its predecessor, then Jenner, Hoechlin and Russell have a fantastic chance of getting a big break.
That’s What I’m Talking About is going to follow the same formula of the earlier film but tweak the premise. We’ll meet a group of kids in the 1980s instead of the 1970s, first of all. Rather than seeing the end of something beautiful and horrible – like the reign of terror of power-mad high school seniors numbing their feelings with cheapo beer and cheaper weed before taking out their feelings on infinitely haze-able freshmen – we’ll start anew.
It’s another generation abloom with promise and hope, college freshmen attempting to make the cut on their university’s baseball team. There can’t be any hazing opportunities there, right? Well, according to Deadline, in Linklater’s version of the year 1980, one of the freshmen moves into the baseball house at the college, which is much like a fraternity, apparently, and he is forced to assimilate with the party bros that are now his roommates. If anything, ’80s bros are a more intense breed than the ones college students encounter on a daily basis today. You think you’ve seen a popped collar before? Think again.
