'Everybody Wants Some' trailer: Richard Linklater takes 'Dazed and Confused' to college

Posted Wednesday, December 23, 2015 at 2:44 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

Once a director pulls off a spectacular feat, he/she gets a free pass for the rest of their career. Case in point: Peter Jackson. He was a middling filmmaker with some cult favorites under his belt. Jackson creates the monumental Lord of the Rings trilogy -- Tolkien's epic once thought unfilmable -- and boom, he's golden.

Richard Linklater is another of those directors who has transcended into the echelon of auteur. He made Boyhood, a compelling film shot over 12 years. Now he belongs an exclusive club of contemporary directors whose future works are heralded by angels above.

Linklater's Boyhood follow-up is modest by those standards. It's a self-described spiritual sequel to his first notable film, 1993's Dazed and Confused. Everybody Wants Some takes the party from a '70s high school setting to '80s college life. Here is the first trailer:

Just as the 1993 film borrowed its title from a Led Zeppelin song, Everybody Wants Some comes from the Van Halen classic as heard in the trailer.

Much like Dazed, the upcoming film features a cast of mostly unknowns. Of course those actors (Milla Jovovich, Ben Affleck, and Matthew McConaughey among them) have gone on to much bigger things. Perhaps we should expect big things from these fresh faces: Will Brittain, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Blake Jenner, J. Quinton Johnson, Glen Powell, Wyatt Russell, Austin Amelio, Temple Baker, Tanner Kalina, Juston Street, and Forrest Vickery.

As for the trailer itself, it doesn't feel all that compelling. I love Dazed and Confused. The quiet guy protagonist, occupied by Wiley Wiggins as Mitch Kramer in the '93 movie, is taken over here by Blake Jenner as Jake. Based solely on this preview, the movie seems to owe more to Animal House and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

I do appreciate that Linklater has returned to familiar territory. Now that he's been granted Great Director status, I'll look forward to his films more than ever. Everybody Wants Some hits theaters in April.