Slacker is a landmark in independent filmmaking, and one of only a handful of films to be shot in Austin up to that time. 1991 also saw the debut of Douglas Coupland’s Generation X, Lollapalooza (where organizer Perry Farrell would coin the term “Alternative Nation”), and Nirvana’s Nevermind, all of which helped establish the commercial viability of an “alternative” culture that would be thoroughly colonized by corporate America and made mainstream within a few years. And the timing couldn’t have been better. Austin was a much less expensive city in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which certainly helped make it possible for part-time workers (and full-time dropouts) to pursue esoteric aims like memorize the minutiae of the JFK assassination, dispose of symbolic typewriters, and document every possible moment on videotape.ĭespite its limited theatrical release, something about Slacker resonated with audiences and signaled a growing interest in an intentionally downwardly-mobile class of young adults seemingly without aim or ambition. For the most part, the film focuses on the inner evolution and self-analysis of people in their 20’s forever posing problems and growing more and more aware of their limitations and potentials.” The characters are never named, only referred to in the credits as things like Sadistic Comb Game Player, Video Backpacker, and Grocery Grabber of Death’s Bounty.
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As Chris Walters’ 1990 piece in the Austin Chronicle explains, the actors represent the result of “the all-but-total decay of public life that has atomized into subcultures of which they are the only member, free radicals randomly seeking an absent center as the clock beats out its senseless song.” On a grant application, Linklater himself wrote, “ Slacker is primarily about people on the fringes of any meaningful participation in society. Their inexperience is sometimes endearing, sometimes frustrating their existential boredom and characteristic weirdness provide a glimpse of an Austin that may or may not be apocryphal.
Slacker’s amateur actors were selected from an invite-only casting call. Word spread, and the film was accepted to Sundance, picked up for distribution by Orion Classics shortly thereafter, and officially opened in theaters on July 5, 1991. Undeterred, Linklater and friends put up Slacker stickers, fliers, and murals around Austin and the film opened to record box office sales at the Dobie Theater in July 1990, selling out the first 22 showings.
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We’ll find ALL of our people elsewhere and do the film a full 100% against the industry way.” Completed in February 1990, Slacker was repeatedly rejected from film festivals that year. As Linklater wrote early in the process, “We’re now more determined than ever to avoid these industry types who have no passion for cinema. Slacker’s quirky non sequiturs and large cast of weird characters didn’t initially connect with studios or distributors. Writer-director Richard Linklater had exhausted family members from which to borrow money, maxed out his credit cards, and at one point didn’t even have enough funds to pay the COD charges on a shipment of prints.
In the words of Matt, "I just love making wine, even if I'm a Slacker.Filmed for a reputed $23,000 in summer 1989, Slacker is a film that had the odds stacked against it. The Slacker brand looks forward to years of innovation and creative alliances. Consider the Slacker Wines as part of that search. Slackers have been known to cut corners sometimes in search of a good time.
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Philip's work has evolved out of his love of music and travel, his series of photographs resembling scrapbooks chronicling quotidian life. From Jack White to Ryan Adams, The Beasties Boys and Beck. Alongside film work, Philip recently returned to photography, working closely in the past few years with a select handful of musicians, casually following them on and off the road. Starting as a cinematographer, Philip began directing music videos and commercials for a wide range of artists and clients such as Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Norah Jones, American Express, Nike, and NFL. Now its own label, Trevisan crafts fun blends that showcase his ability to constantly keep creating and pioneering the exciting possibilities of the Paso Robles wine region.Ībout the labels: An experimental canvas for Matt and Linne Calodo, the Slacker labels are part of a long overdue collaboration with Director and Photographer Philip Andelman who helped out with a Linne Calodo harvest in 2005 and continues to be a friend of the winery. The ethos of Slacker was always described by winemaker Matt Trevisan as, “wine representing not only the winemaker, but the idea that wines should be fun and relaxed.” Forever akin to the Slacker lifestyle, he decided to bring back the Slacker name in a much more appropriate way.
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