Isn't this terrific? It's from a site I came across while searching for information on Wiley Wiggins who stars in two of Richard Linklater's previous films: Dazed and Confused, and Waking Life. But, you say, I know Wiley, and that's no Wiley Wiggins in that picture! As Chris says, "back up the bus".

OK, I rented Dazed and Confused because I had heard a lot about it as Linklater's early Austin film and since I liked Waking Life enough to buy it, I thought I'd check this one out. I wasn't that wild about Dazed and Confused, but it sorta grew on me (after the first hour). It's 18 hours in the life of a bunch of kids in Texas on the last day of school in 1976. As all the publicity says--sex was no worries, drugs were no worries, beer was flowing freely (they had an 18 drinking age) and it looks to me like the kids were having a better time than we did in the 60s, that's for sure! The "hazing" thing put me right off though, I've never understood that, never experienced it...I can't imagine ever participating in something like that. Apparently they had/have hazing in Texas high schools and I think they have it in Michigan because some girls got arrested for beating up other girls this summer... That put me off, but once they got past that, it was good. Ben Affleck ("is that Ben Affleck?") is in it, Parker Posey is in it, Renee Zellwegger makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance, and of course my most hated Austin actor, Matthew McConaughey is in it, being his usual annoying self. I'm sorry, that man just makes my skin crawl. Ugh! He needs a bath, a shave, to get off whatever he's smoking, and uncurl his lip. But I digress.

Anyway...no mention of PK Dick in Dazed and Confused (unlike Waking Life), but Wiley Wiggins makes an appearance as a very sweet 8th grader who is moving up to high school...In real life, he is an actor, artist and graphic designer with his own website at www.wileywiggins.com. In fact, not only was he in Waking Life, he animated some of it. And he is working on Scanner. (ahh, now she's finally getting to the connection).

His blog contained a link to a Scanner Darkly production blog, where I found the following posted on Weds. June 30th:

Flat Black Films is looking for fine artists and illustrators to do animation on the Richard Linklater feature "A Scanner Darkly." Applicants need to be highly skilled in line drawing, particularly of the human face. Whereas our previous feature "Waking Life" aspired to a painting aesthetic, "A Scanner Darkly" aims to look more like a finely detailed, well drawn comic book or graphic novel. Experience with computer animation such as Flash is a plus but not required. Please send portfolios or examples of artwork to:

Scanner Darkly
c/o Sara Johnson
Detour FilmProduction
3109 N. IH-35
Austin, TX 78722

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To which I say, Yee-haw! The production blog in turn sent me to the website for FlatBlack films which is where I grabbed the beautiful image above. If that and the eBay t-shirt are indicative, I'm gonna say yee-haw again!

Waking Life was done by a number of different artists working on the video, each with her or his own style (you can see samples of the various artists' styles here). Maybe they will do Scanner in the same way, allowing each artist's individual style--if the two images we've seen are anything to go by. Of course, they may not be. And Waking Life was more a series of vignettes, which suited having different styles. Scanner is one narrative, so maybe not so much. Only a year to wait! *snork*