Trivia / Dazed and Confused

• Actor-Inspired Element: All the wooden paddles were custom designed by the stars themselves. Check for one that says "17 yrs", noting the year difference between the movie's release and the setting.
• All-Star Cast: By virtue of Retroactive Recognition.
• Cast the Expert: In the scene where the kids are building the paddles, the teacher in the shop (sleeping) is actually a real teacher at the school, and still works there.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Renée Zellweger was originally considered for Darla, but was given the Uncredited Role of Nesi White.
• The Cast Showoff: The song that Milla Jovovich plinks on her guitar while gazing at the stars, is an excerpt from "The Alien Song", a song from her 1994 album, The Divine Comedy.
• The Danza: Anthony Rapp as Tony.
• Dawson Casting: Mostly averted, as most of the actors were only slightly older than their characters, but played straight for some.
  • Although Wooderson is notorious as the "older guy who still hangs out with high school students", Matthew McConaughey was younger than several of the cast members playing the teenagers, including Sasha Jenson (Don), Joey Lauren Adams (Simone), and Parker Posey (Darla).
• Deleted Role: Despite being featured on posters, most of Milla Jovovich's scenes were cut. She became so upset about this that she decided to take a break from acting and focus on her music career instead. Jovovich continued acting after being cast in The Fifth Element.
• Hostility on the Set: Kevin Pickford was meant to be a larger role, but due to Shawn Andrews' behavior with other cast members, Pickford's screen time was cut in favor of Wooderson. Richard Linklater recalled "There was another actor [Shawn Andrews] who was kind of the opposite [of McConaughey]. He wasn’t really getting along with everybody. I could tell the actors weren’t responding to him." Linklater had to break up a fight between Andrews and London at one point. On screen, the two characters barely speak to each other during the film.
• Late Export for You: The film waited over a year after its U.S. debut, for its UK release.
• Looping Lines: Quite a bit of dubbing was going on in the last half of the film. It's not terribly noticeable except when one character is visibly speaking (and gesturing dramatically) and you're hearing a different character's voice. Then it's odd.
• Throw It In!: Matthew McConaughey's very first line in the movie^note ”Alright, alright, alright!” was ad libbed. It ended up becoming the actor’s catchphrase.
• Troubled Production: Besides the issues mentioned above, the studio was very antsy about Linklater making something too “arty” for them (not exactly unreasonable given his previous work) and kept trying to make him stick more to the script when he preferred an improv-friendly atmosphere. Then the editing process dragged on far longer than usual as the various cuts they tried kept being rejected. In a 2019 interview Linklater joked that he still has PTSD from the experience.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Vince Vaughn auditioned for Benny, but was turned down after Richard Linklater decided that he and Ben Affleck resembled each other too closely. Cole Hauser was cast instead.
  • Claire Danes auditioned for Sabrina, but was considered "too classy" by Linklater.
  • Ashley Judd auditioned for Jodi.
  • Richard Linklater originally wanted "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin playing during the end credits, but he didn't get it. Jimmy Page agreed for Linklater to use the song, but Robert Plant denied him.
  • Linklater's first idea was an entire film consisting of two guys driving around in a car and talking while listening to ZZ Top. The movie would have had a total of two shots: one in which one of the guys puts the ZZ Top album Fandango! in the car's eight-track player; and the second a oner of the two guys talking for the rest of the movie. Fandango! would be playing in the background all the time, with the movie ending exactly when the album did.
• Write Who You Know: Richard Linklater was actually sued by the real Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater, and Richard "Pink" Floyd for how they were portrayed onscreen... eleven years after the film came out. Whether Linklater used their personalities or names alone for inspiration will never be known, as the case was dropped shortly afterwards.

---