NEWS: Richard Linklater's Liars (A-E) Officially Dead...

This has not been the best of years for Mr. Slacker, Richard Linklater.

First, his new film Me and Orson Welles has now FINALLY found some sort of distribution, albeit limited, and has been taking blows from critics, who have not been too fond of the Zac Effron starrer. The semi-sequel to Dazed and Confused, That’s What I’m Talking About, never left the ground, and now his new Miramax project, Liars (A-E), has become one of the new Miramax casualties.

Hell, even School of Rock 2 has gone nowhere.

Movieline now reports that Liars (A-E) has become a new victim of the much publicized downsizing of Miramax. Here’s the synopsis for that film via /Film:

Announced in July, the film quickly attached Rebecca Hall and Kat Dennings to a story that would have seen the two on a road trip to retrieve stuff from Hall’s ex-boyfriends, with Obama’s inauguration in the background. The picture seemed ready to go at Miramax, with the mighty Scott Rudin producing. Now it isn’t going anywhere.

So here’s the scoop. First, the good news.

Recently, Collider has had the chance to talk to Linklater about his spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused, TWITA. According to their interview, Linklater does hope to bring that film back to life somewhere down the line:

I carefully called it a spiritual sequel to Dazed cause it’s not the same characters. If Dazed was my High School, this is my college . It’s about a weekend in college in that time period. It’s funny…I think it’s the funniest thing I ever wrote.

This is easily the biggest piece of news, personally, that has risen from the ashes known as Linklater’s 2009. I love Dazed, and hearing this premise, while a bit cliché, does sound like perfect stomping ground for Linklater and his distinct and esoteric style. Sure, there is some lack of interest amongst distributors, but when names get attached to the project, there shouldn’t be much problem finding some sort of funding.

Now the bad.

First, in the Movieline interview, he confirms that there have been no movement on School of Rock 2, which all in all, I think is a good thing. Linklater hasn’t been to up on the project, so the death of this, at least at the moment, is a bit inspiring, particularly when taken in the context of Linklater’s upcoming slate. More time on TWITA is always a good thing.

However, the overall story here is the death of Liars (A-E), which in and of itself is quite saddening. The project sounding interesting, and starred Kat Dennings, an actress I think could burst off the screen within the environment of a Linklater film.

What do YOU think?

Go see something good!