Slacker (DVD)
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.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 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 on the Blu-ray edition
- 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
- “The Roadmap,” the working script for Slacker, including fourteen deleted scenes and alternate takes (DVD)
- Deleted scenes and alternate takes (Blu-ray)
- 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
- Stills gallery featuring hundreds of rare behind-the-scenes production and publicity photos (DVD only)
- Slacker culture essay by Linklater (DVD only)
- Information about the Austin Film Society, founded in 1985 by Linklater with Daniel, including early flyers from screenings (DVD only)
- 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, and, for the Blu-ray edition, an essay by Michael Barker, reviews by critics Ron Rosenbaum and Chris Walters, and production notes by Linklater