With Disney taking the axe to Miramax's output and staff, we guess it's no surprise that one of the latter studio's planned projects — Richard Linklater's Liars (A-E) — is now in limbo.
The next planned effort from the director of A Scanner Darkly, Fast Food Nation, Before Sunrise, and Dazed and Confused was supposed to be one of the projects protected from Disney's cuts. But Movieline recently caught up with Linklater, who indicated unequivocally that the project is on hold indefinitely.
It's no longer happening, unfortunately. It didn't really work out. It's tough.
Tough indeed, because Linklater had already cast Rebecca Hall and Kat Dennings in the romantic comedy, which involves a road trip in which the two lead characters visit Hall's exes and attempt to retrieve personal effects.
The sudden dissolution of the project also means that Linklater has nothing on the horizon, which will come as a disappointment to his fans. Many were anticipating a possible sequel to School of Rock, but in the same conversation with Movieline, Linklater said that he has spoken with Jack Black and that there are no plans to go forward with that idea.
I don’t think I have anything coming up! Everybody asks me about School of Rock 2,
and that’s not really happening. It’s not on the front burner. Mike
White was writing on it a long time ago, but it’s become dormant ... I saw Jack the other night, and
we talk about it. We’re not gonna do it just to do it. Let’s just say
it’s still kind of on the backburner and it’s no one’s next project.
It's a shame Linklater won't have any projects forthcoming, although we don't imagine it will take him long to come up with something else. For now, we're anticipating Me and Orson Welles, which arrives in limited release next Friday.