Richard Linklater is at the height of his power coming off this year’s Boyhood, and yet what’s funny is that he hardly exudes the presence of an auteur the way so many of his contemporaries or his idols have before him. “This Slacker ain’t no slacker”, as Matthew McConaughey says in a trailer for a new documentary about the director, 21 Years: Richard Linklater. Michael Dunaway and Tara Wood direct the documentary asking people who have starred in his films what makes him so special, everyone from McConaughey to Ethan Hawke, Zac Efron, Julie Delpy, Billy Bob Thornton, Jack Black and some his fans Kevin Smith and Jason Reitman.
The documentary intends to perform an overview of the artist he’s become 21 years in the making, which the synopsis says is enough time to define the career of the artist. Yet it’s hard to think of too many others who have been around as long as he has who currently have or deserve their own documentary dedicated to them. Maybe these directors can make 21 Years a series of docs.
21 Years: Richard Linklater will be released November 12 in theaters along with a simultaneous iTunes release. Watch the trailer below.