‘Last Flag Flying’ Director Richard Linklater Discusses Ensemble Stories, Time, and More [Interview]
Posted on Friday, November 24th, 2017 by Jack Giroux
Like many of writer-director Richard Linklater‘s films, Last Flag Flying moves with grace. The smooth rhythm of the dialogue, the lived-in settings, and characters you want to spend hours with – these well-known qualities found in Linklater’s body of work are on full-display in his latest drama, based on Darryl Ponicsan‘s novel. The film stars Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell as veterans and old war buddies on a road trip and despite a tragic core, the film contains the sense of joy we often get from Linklater.
Characters talking in a contained space, like on a train in this instance, is filled with such character, personality, tragedy and laughs. How much he’s able to subtlety communicate in a single scene – sometimes a single shot – is remarkable. We recently had a chance to discuss one of those slyly dense scenes with Linklater, who’s now a few weeks into post-production on his next film, an adaptation of the excellent Where’d You Go Bernadette?, which apparently has a rather lengthy first cut.
Below, read our Richard Linklater interview.
