Richard Linklater is a fi lmmaker with a discrete array of skills, but perhaps
none is more impressive than his ability to develop new talent. With the August
release of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, his twentieth feature, the Austin direc-
tor is introducing another newcomer to the screen: Emma Nelson, the young
actor (she was cast when she was in the eighth grade) who plays Bee, the fi lm’s
protagonist. Bee drives the action as she searches for her mother, the titular
Bernadette, played by Cate Blanchett. While it’s far too early to tell whether
Nelson will become a breakout star, a quick look at some other talents whom
Linklater helped before they were big names suggests it’s a defi nite possibility.Linklater
Links
The filmmaker nurtured
the early careers of some of
today’s biggest stars.FRESH
DISCOVERIESZac Efron
High School Musical star Efron got his
first dramatic feature role as the lead in
Me and Orson Welles. Most recently he
starred as killer Ted Bundy in Extremely
Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile and as
McConaughey’s bud in The Beach Bum.Parker Posey
Her domination of the nineties indie film
world began after Dazed; she reunited with
Linklater four years later in SubUrbia be-
fore settling into a career that has included
roles in everything from hit movies (You’ve
Got Mail) to TV (Lost in Space).Imogen Poots
Poots had one speaking role, in the hit mov-
ie 28 Weeks Later, before Linklater tapped
her for 2008’s Me and Orson Welles.
Things quickly took off from there with a
slew of projects, including Round Rock na-
tive Riley Stearns’s The Art of Self-Defense.Miranda Cosgrove
School of Rock, in 2003, was the first time
Linklater worked with a cast primarily
of kids, among them the nine-year-old
Cosgrove. The hit film led her to parts that
included the title role in Nickelodeon’s
iCarly.Renée Zellweger
Her nonspeaking screen time in Dazed is
so minimal that she barely made this list.
But her small role translated into a huge
career, which included an Oscar for 2003’s
Cold Mountain. Her star turn in the Judy
Garland biopic hits theaters in September.Glen Powell
The Austin native became known for
Scream Queens before appearing in
Everybody Wants Some!! His other recent
projects have included Hidden Figures (he
played astronaut John Glenn) and Netflix’s
Set It Up.Matthew McConaughey
1993’s Dazed and Confused launched a
lot of careers, but none is more connected
with Linklater than McConaughey’s. His
big-screen debut as Wooderson set him
on the path to joining Hollywood’s elite; he
would win an Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club.Blake Jenner
Glee fans already knew Jenner when
Linklater cast him in 2014 as the lead
in Everybody Wants Some!! Since then,
he’s starred in the 2018 thriller American
Animals and teamed with Zellweger for the
Netflix noir What/If.Ben Affl eck
Playing the love-to-hate-him bully
O’Bannion in Dazed helped the future
Batman transition from minor child
roles to bona fide stardom and Oscar-
winning filmmaking (Good Will Hunting
and Argo).GOT THERE
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