Slacker

Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater, presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and overeducated young people. Shooting on 16 mm for a mere $23,000, writer-producer-director Linklater and his crew of friends threw out any idea of a traditional plot, choosing instead to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as compelling as the last. Slacker is a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1991
  • 100 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #247

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New, restored high-definition digital film transfer, supervised by director Richard Linklater and director of photo­graphy Lee Daniel, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Three audio commentaries, featuring Linklater and members of the cast and crew
  • It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988), Linklater’s first full-length feature, with commentary by the director
  • Woodshock, a 1985 16 mm short by Linklater and Daniel
  • Casting tapes featuring select “auditions” from the more-than-100-member cast
  • Deleted scenes and alternate takes
  • Footage from the Slacker tenth-anniversary reunion
  • Early film treatment
  • Home movies
  • Ten-minute trailer for a 2005 documentary about the landmark Austin café Les Amis
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author and film­maker John Pierson, an introduction to It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books by director Monte Hellman, an essay by Michael Barker, reviews by critics Ron Rosenbaum and Chris Walters, and production notes by Linklater

New cover by Marc English

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New, restored high-definition digital film transfer, supervised by director Richard Linklater and director of photo­graphy Lee Daniel, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Three audio commentaries, featuring Linklater and members of the cast and crew
  • It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988), Linklater’s first full-length feature, with commentary by the director
  • Woodshock, a 1985 16 mm short by Linklater and Daniel
  • Casting tapes featuring select “auditions” from the more-than-100-member cast
  • Deleted scenes and alternate takes
  • Footage from the Slacker tenth-anniversary reunion
  • Early film treatment
  • Home movies
  • Ten-minute trailer for a 2005 documentary about the landmark Austin café Les Amis
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author and film­maker John Pierson, an introduction to It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books by director Monte Hellman, an essay by Michael Barker, reviews by critics Ron Rosenbaum and Chris Walters, and production notes by Linklater

New cover by Marc English

Slacker
Cast
Richard Linklater
Should have stayed at the bus station
Kathy McCarty
Anarchist’s daughter
Rudy Basquez
Taxi driver
Jean Caffeine
Roadkill
Jan Hockey
Jogger
Stephen Hockey
Running late
Mark James
Hit-and-run son
Sam Dietert
Grocery grabber of death’s bounty
Bob Boyd
Officer Bozio
Terrence Kirk
Office Love
Keith McCormack
Street musician
Jennifer Schaudies
Walking to coffee shop
Jerry Delony
Been on the moon since the ’50s
Teresa Taylor
Pap smear pusher
Dan Burrows
Quotes Hitler
John Slate
Conspiracy A-Go-Go author
Louis Mackey
Old anarchist
Kendal Smith
Post-modern Paul Revere
Regina Garza
Smoking writer
Credits
Director
Richard Linklater
Screenplay
Richard Linklater
Producer
Richard Linklater
Cinematography
Lee Daniel
Editing
Scott Rhodes
Production manager/casting
Anne Walker-McBay
Dolly grip/ assistant cameraman
Clark Walker
Sound
Denise Montgomery
Script supervisor
Meg Brennan

Current

A Slacker’s Story
A Slacker’s Story
She’s unforgettable. It’s difficult to stand out in a cast of dozens of eccentrics, weirdos, and armchair philosophers, but Teresa Taylor is one of the true MVPs of Richard Linklater’s independent breakthrough, Slacker. Identified in the credit…
Slacker: Slacking Off
Slacker: Slacking Off
This chapter about director Richard Linklater’s beginnings, from the 1996 book Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema, is by the former producer’s representative, creator and host of IFC’…

By John Pierson

Slacker: Looking Back
Slacker: Looking Back
The following piece by Sony Pictures Classics cofounder and copresident Michael Barker, who picked up Slacker for Orion Classics in 1991, originally appeared in the program for the 2001 Austin Film Society event Slacker: A Ten-Year Reunion. What I’…

By Michael Barker

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