'Dazed and Confused' director says he didn't make any money from the movie because Universal 'screwed' him
- Richard Linklater said he didn't make any money from "Dazed and Confused."
- The acclaimed writer-director said he was "screwed" out of the film's profits by the film's studio.
Richard Linklater said he didn't receive any of the financial rewards from the success of his highly-popular 1993 film "Dazed and Confused."
Linklater — who wrote and directed the film that launched his career along with the film's stars, including Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck — was asked about the film's enduring legacy during an interview with The Daily Beast, to which he responded: "Yeah, and it's like…where's my money? How come a movie that cost less than $7 million has $12 million in interest against it?"
The coming-of-age comedy film chronicles the lives of a set of Texas teenagers on their day of school in 1976.
When asked how "Dazed and Confused" could be so widely popular and not reap any financial rewards, Linklater responded, "I don't know. Ask Universal! Hollywood accounting."
Linklater later added that he once asked Universal for a piece of the royalties from the film's popular soundtrack since he picked out all of the songs. The studio, however, denied his request because it was his first film.
"Everybody has that story of getting screwed with their first project. That film was an indie success. It made more than it cost theatrically, and over the years it's been everywhere," Linklater said.
Insider reached out to Universal but didn't immediately hear back.
Despite being unhappy with his personal returns from the film, Linklater said he is still thankful he was able to make "Dazed and Confused," a film that he said most studios wouldn't produce today.
"That's such a cliché to bitch about. But I did go through the Hollywood experience," Linklater said. "Here I complain, but they did greenlight the film, and they wouldn't greenlight the film today."
Cast of unknowns? Period film when not much happens, riding around? One film out of Sundance? I don't think there's a pitch for that movie today," he continued, "so I sit here very, very blessed that I came along at a time when studios were going, 'Hey, we'll make this and this and then throw some chump change over to these guys.' I'm still grateful I got the film made, and got it made the way I wanted it to."
Linklater has spoken openly in the past about not receiving any financial rewards from the making of "Dazed and Confused."
"The film made $8m on a $6.9m budget. I never made a penny off anything to do with it — I waived most of my rights to pay for the soundtrack," the writer-director told The Guardian in 2019.
"I don't think it's my best movie, but it represents a rite of passage for the "busters," the end of the baby-boom generation. I also enjoy people who weren't even born then liking the film. It tells you there's something about teenagedom that never changes."