Sophie Turner joins all-star The Staircase cast - The Number One magazine feat. news, reviews, movie trailers, cinema, DVDs, interviews + film & movie gossip UK & worldwide.
The Funny, Bittersweet ‘Dazed and Confused’ Oral History Captures the Cult Classic’s Lasting Appeal
Melissa Maerz’s new book is a raucous reunion for the cast and crew of the film, whose depiction of the insecurities and thrills of teenage life have made it timeless.
November 17, 2020
Rory Cochrane, Jason London, and Sasha Jenson as Slater, Pink and Don in Dazed and Confused, 1993.
Allstar Picture Library Ltd./Universal Studios via Alamy
In the early nineties, director Richard Linklater surprised even some of his closest collaborators by choosing to follow the success of his oddball indie
Slacker with a coming-of-age comedy for a big Hollywood studio. He thought his own high school years, back in the late seventies, “sucked,” and he wanted to push back against nostalgia both for that decade and for being a teenager. This ran counter to popular teen movies, including
Hal Hartley’s often fascinating “Ned Rifle” feels like a
very conscious nod to the films that made its writer/director famous in the
late ‘80s and early ‘90s while also serving as a commentary on moving on from
past successes and failures to face the future head on. It is the work most
reminiscent of his quirky, clever character studies like “The Unbelievable
Truth”, “Trust” and “Simple Men” in decades, and reminded me why Hartley was so
formative on my view of independent cinema in high school. Like those films, “Ned
Rifle” has a jangly, unique energy, as people bounce off each other and then pause to philosophically ask what the bouncing means. Dialogue comes in sporadic
HBO Max's limited drama series The Staircase is based on the real case of Kathleen Peterson, whose husband, Michael Peterson, claimed she died from a fall.