Slacker (1990) Strolls Onto Criterion Blu-ray This September
The Criterion Collection has announced the addition of the cult comedy Slacker to their upcoming slate of Blu-ray releases. The film was written and directed by Richard Linklater and starred Linklater, Rudy Basquez, Jean Caffeine, Jan Hockey, Stephan Hockey, and Mark James. Slacker is currently available for pre-order online and will be available in stores everywhere beginning on September 17th.
Slacker presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and over-educated young people. Shooting on 16 mm for a mere $3,000, 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 1990’s.
The Blu-ray will include several special features, including:
- 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)
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by author and filmmaker John Pierson and Michael Barker, as well as reviews, production notes, and an introduction to It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books by director Monte Hellman