Director Richard Linklater and cinematographer
Lee Daniel continue their collaboration
with a dark look at subUrbia

To young people who have spent their formative years within the tranquil, non-threatening confines of suburbia, the prospect of leaving can be daunting and even traumatic. Having the courage to make the leap often means the difference between a life of fulfilled potential and one of tragic stagnation. The twentysomething protagonists of subUrbia are all facing this crucial stage of self-definement, a time when nagging ambitions clash with paralyzing fears.

Directed by Richard Linklater and based on actor/writer Eric Bogosian's play of the same name, the film focuses on Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi), a bored, disaffected part-time community college student, and his group of friends, who get together one night to welcome back their old pal Pony (Jayce Bartok), whose rock band has just enjoyed a successful national tour. The arrival of the musician's stretch limousine in the convenience store parking lot where the group hangs out precipitates a night of drinking, sex and soul-searching.

subUrbia seems like a natural continuation of the themes presented in Linklater's previous feature films - Slacker (1991), Dazed and Confused (1993) and Before Sunrise (1995) - all of which used the framing device of a single day or night to examine characters straddling the bridge between youth and adulthood. Yet this film also marks the first time Linklater has worked with material penned by someone else.

"subUrbia felt like something I could have written," says Linklater. "After I saw the play, I never quite stopped thinking about it. For the first time, I found myself in someone else's story. I was most pointedly like the main character Jeff when I was 20, but the others were characters I've also either been or come to know. I could definitely relate to all of them."

While the languid, patient pace of the film bears Linklater's distinctive stamp, the more explosive tone of the piece points to a new direction for the filmmaker. "In subUrbia, the challenge was handling material that was definitely more confrontational and inherently more dramatic," Linklater says. "In the past, I've tended to diffuse the drama in a story and not make it such a big deal. The characters have been more internal, while in this film they're more external - raising their voices, being more argumentative. I think collaborating with Eric Bogosian really pushed me in that direction."

Linklater's longtime cinematographer, Lee Daniel, was initially leery of creative repetition, since the film's nocturnal backdrop and suburban milieu echoed aspects of Linklater's previous pictures. "I was a little disappointed after I first read the script," Daniel admits. "I said to Rick, 'Haven't we done this before?' But he reminded me that I hadn't seen the play and that he wanted to do the play one better by making it cinematic. So I gave that to him. But it didn't actually come alive in my mind until I saw the rehearsals and spent time on the actual location."

His trust in Linklater's filmmaking instincts is grounded in years of friendship and collaboration. The two first met in the mid-Eighties when Daniel, a University of Texas-Austin film student, encountered Houston native Linklater at a meeting of the Heart of Texas Filmmakers club, a group that was particularly enthusiastic about the Super 8 format.

"Rick told me that he made Super 8 films with sound, which I'd never done before, so I asked to see them," recalls Daniel. "We went to his apartment, and he showed me these films that he'd never shown to anybody. They were really well-done. He'd learned how to splice with Super 8 sound, which was very meticulous work. I would never have had the patience for it! I really developed some respect for him after that day."

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