The 'Boyhood' director, who was one of the contributors to 2009 documentary 'American: The Bill Hicks Story', will serve as writer and director of the Focus Features film.
- Oct 26, 2018
AceShowbiz - Richard Linklater has announced his next project - a Bill Hicks biopic.
The "Boyhood" director, a big fan of the late comedian, will be writing and directing the forthcoming flick for Focus Features.
Linklater has always been vocal in his admiration for Hicks, a fellow Texan, and was one of the contributors to 2009 documentary "American: The Bill Hicks Story".
"There's not quite any others like him. They don't speak in the same voice," he said to filmmakers Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas at the time.
"You'd think people would take that torch and go with it, but it's a rare combination of that kind of intelligence, mysticism, political, you know... his politics, his angle, it's pretty unique. I go through my life all the time... everything that's going on in our culture, I always think, what would Bill Hicks be doing? You just miss him."
Hicks lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 32 in 1994, just as he was hitting the big time. The comic, a social critic, satirist and musician, began his career gigging at the Comedy Workshop in Houston while still at school. Although he toured the U.S. extensively and appeared on TV shows, it was in the U.K. that he became really revered for his brand of dark comedy.
Since his death, he has gained even more of a cult following, and in 2010 he placed fourth in a poll of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comics by British network Channel 4, way ahead of number 71 Denis Leary, who has been accused by many of ripping Bill off, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time in 2017.
Five-time Oscar nominee Linklater has previously expressed his regret at never working with Hicks, while Hicks declared himself to be a fan of Linklater's breakthrough film, "Dazed and Confused".
