TheDazed and Confusedcast remembers what it was like at Richard Linklaters summer camp.
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Many of them still describe makingDazedas summer camp, whether they consciously remember Linklaters words or not.
When they werent shooting, they were swimming, boating, running around barefoot, and getting into trouble.
Linklater didnt attempt to rein anyone in.
It was summer camp, for sure.
But it was summer camp with alcohol, weed, and locked doors.
But about 30 minutes intoDazed and Confused, the film switches from daytime to nighttime.
We all got a little darker during that period, because we turned into vampires.
Wed work all night and then hang out all day.
We just wouldnt sleep.
Its kind of scary at first.
The bats have sonarthey wont run into you.
And in the morning, it’s possible for you to watch them come back in.
Peter Millius:Our nights would end long after the bats were coming back under the bridge to sleep.
And Im like, Fuck, Im sorry, let me put the Do Not Disturb sign out.
The next day, the maids in the room.
Im like, alright, Ill put the Do Not Disturb sign outandthe dead bolt.
And I justlost it.
I opened the door, and I was like, What the fuck is wrong with you people?
And they were like, We wanted to double-check you were still alive.
You know:Maybe youre a fucking heroin addict?
Adam Goldberg (Mike):Everyone was just drinking and getting stoned the entire time.
But at 17 years old, youre like, Give me a bottle of water!
Im ready to go.
I think that was the last time I smoked pot while we were shooting.
I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror and thought,I dont know who you are.
Ben Affleck (OBannion):I had a bad experience with marijuana at 15.
I had a dissociative panic attack.
I didnt really like marijuana.
I also wasnt a very heavy drinker then.
I was a little nervous, like, Should we be drinking before were working tomorrow?
Some people were actually drinking and getting stonedat work.
I wasnt comfortable doing that.
Joey Lauren Adams (Simone):I was high for the scene on the football field.
A lot of us were.
She just went into full meltdown mode.
I gave you all we had!
Its not like this shit is growing in the backyard.
This shit comes from Mexico.
We had rented expensive pool tables.
Keith Fletcher:She woke up a minute or two later.
Melanie Fletcher (extras set costumer):Everybody was getting high, and Milla wasnt eating.
Shealwaysfelt like she was just about to tip over.
Adam Goldberg:Back at the hotel, we were all getting into trouble.
But I didnt do that.
Marissa Ribisi:My brother came to visit.
I was like, You fools!
Were gonna get kicked out of here.
Cole Hauser:This was around the time Matthew [McConaughey] came into the fold.
Joey Lauren Adams:I didnt know what to think of Matthew.
He wasnt staying at the hotel, so I didnt get to know him that well.
The whole cast was there for two months and got really close, like family.
And Matthew didnt feel like a part of that to me.
Adam Goldberg:I thought McConaughey was just a bartender who got a kitschy, nonsense role.
He directed me in the last scene we shot together, like he was telling us what to do.
I was just like, Oh, Ill let this local have his little power trip.
I mean, thats Matthew.
It was heaven on earth.
Adam Goldberg:Floating down the river?
I never did that shit.
Renee Zellweger (extra):They were bonding as a cast, and I wasnt part of that.
But the stuff they were doing?
That was my life!
We were always at the lake on the jet skis, or tubing, or whatever.
Chrisse Harnos (Kaye):We went river rafting.
Oh god, youre in rapids, and I was scared shitless.
It was like,Ahhhhhhh!
Should we really be doing this?
Rory Cochrane:We went cliff jumping.
I dont know why I thought that would be great to do.
Jason London:There was a swing hanging from a tree near the water.
You had to let go, and if you dropped at all, you were literally impaled.
And apparently, that had happened a few times to people.
I refused to do that.
Sasha Jenson:Oh god, it was horrible.
One of the local girls jumped in first, and she didnt come up.
One of us said, And thats the last we ever saw of her!
Like we had to throw in the comedy moment first.
And then everybody jumped in looking for her.
We found her, and it wasnt good.
She was under a log.
And then I heard that, like, a week later, somebodydiedthere.
Peter Millius:Ben liked to be the alpha male.
He was definitely one of the guys who was like, Yeah, lets go to the gun range!
Cole Hauser:Wed shoot all kinds of guns: .44s, 57s, shotguns.
Man, they would give youanything.
If theyd had a bazooka in there, we wouldve shot it.
Peter Millius:One time, we all went out drinking.
I thought, Guys!
Were allhammered as hell.
There isno wayanyones gonna give us guns.
We get to the gun range, and everyones so excited, they all run in ahead of me.
When I walk in, half the guys already have guns in their hands, shooting!
And I cant believe theyre giving all of us guns!
Its a Texas thing.
Theyre like, You want a cup of water, or you want a gun?
I think Ben and Cole actuallyboughtguns.
Rory Cochrane:Cole might have bought a .357.
I cant confirm whether or not he shot it out the window.
Cole Hauser:First of all, you cant buy a .357 in the state of Texas.
And I definitely didnt shoot it out the window.
Rory Cochrane:We went shooting on magic mushrooms.
Which was not a great idea.
Some of the girls were just waving the guns around, and we were supposed to be inlanes.
Cole Hauser:I wasnt on mushrooms.
Hes pretty good about doing that stuff and you not knowing that hes on it.
Hes not one of those guys dancing around in the tulips, speaking to the sky.
Nicky Katt:Hewas probably on mushrooms.
But that probably explains why Rory discharged a firearm into the roof of the place.
Rory Cochrane:Nobody got hurt, thankfully.
Nicky Katt:In hindsight, its incredible that nobody drove off a cliff or anything.
We were pretty off the leash.
This excerpt was adapted from the bookALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHTby Melissa Maerz.
Copyright 2020 by Melissa Maerz.
Reprinted courtesy of Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
