School of Rock and Boyhood director Richard Linklater feels the current state of American filmmaking is “gone with the algorithm.”
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Linklater was asked about the current state of indie filmmaking and where American cinema is headed following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It feels like it’s gone with the wind — or gone with the algorithm,” Linklater answered. “Sometimes I’ll talk to some of my contemporaries who I came up with during the 1990s, and we’ll go, ‘Oh my God, we could never get that done today.’ So, on the one hand, selfishly, you think, ‘I guess I was born at the right time. I was able to participate in what always feels like the last good era for filmmaking.’ And then you hope for a better day. But, man, the way distribution has fallen off. Sadly, it’s mostly just the audience. Is there a new generation that really values cinema anymore? That’s the dark thought.”