Award-winning filmmaker Richard Linklater looks back at college in the 1980s in his new humorous film, “Everybody Wants Some.”
The new movie is not a sequel to “Boyhood.” That 2014 Linklater film followed 12 years of a boy’s life as he grew to adulthood. “Everybody Wants Some” is a much lighter look at young adults.
“Two rules: No booze in this house. Number two, no girls upstairs in those bedrooms.”
“Everybody Wants Some” takes place over one weekend at a college in Texas. The year is 1980. A group of athletes, or jocks, gather at the school before classes start. They are there to attend baseball practice, and to party.
Blake Jenner stars as Jake, a new player on the team.
Quinton Johnson as Dale to Jake: “You have not earned teammate status yet.”
Another Jock: “Who are you?
Blake Jenner as Jake: Oh, Jake…Bradford”
Quinton Johnson as Dale: “Until you do, you are a nobody.”
Richard Linklater said this college comedy was based on his own college experience.
“This is such a unique time in your life, you know. You’re away from home, all the freedom you’re confronted with, to try to figure out who you are in the world.”
Quinton Johnson plays a teammate named Dale. He said the young actors had to put themselves into a different time.
“We’re a bit more disconnected as college students today. We have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, there is Bumble now, I don’t even know what Bumble is, there is Tinder. You know? All these things that substitute for real human interaction.”
ActorWyatt Russell also plays one of the athletes in the film. He described how they made the time and the relationships seem real.
“We did the wardrobe, we’ve listened to the music. And then you just kind of play with your friends.”
But some things do not change, says actor Glen Powell, who plays Finnegan. In the 1980s, like today, college students were testing the limits of a new freedom.
“It’s about a bunch of guys who think they know who they are and don’t, but they are confident in whatever version that is that they are choosing at the moment.”
Richard Linklater’s film representation of the American college experience is a happy one.
“You got to hang out with some fun, eccentric, kind of cool people, who seemed like your friends and it was just a good time. You kind of absorbed their energy and spirit and it was a good place to be.”
I’m Caty Weaver.
VOA correspondent Penelope Poulou reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in This Story
booze – n. alcohol
jock – n. athlete
practice – n. a regular occasion at which you practice something
unique – adj. very special or unusual
confront – v. to deal with (something, such as a problem or danger)
wardrobe – n. the clothes worn by actors in films, plays, etc.
confident – adj. certain that something will happen or that something is true
eccentric – adj. strange or unusual