School of Rock: Difference between revisions

For the documentary about an actual school of rock music, see Rock School (film). For the Gene Simmons TV show, see Rock School.

School of Rock
School of Rock DVD cover.
Directed by	Richard Linklater
Written by	Mike White
Produced by	Scott Aversano Steve Nicolaides Scott Rudin
Starring	Jack Black Joan Cusack Mike White Sarah Silverman
Music by	Jack Black
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	October 3,2003
Running time	104 min.
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000 ($USD, estimated)

School of Rock is a 2003 comedy film starring Jack Black. The film was written specifically for Black by Mike White, and directed by Richard Linklater. Although a few references, including Internet Movie Database, give this film's name as The School of Rock, which was the title displayed during the film's trailer and opening credits, its posters, video cover, official website and most other references refer to it as School of Rock.

This critically-acclaimed movie is credited with sparking an interest in classic rock among members of Generation Y , a generation notable for its interest in music that predates itself, such as bands like AC/DC, The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Ramones, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Iron Maiden, Queen and many others.

This film features musical talent comparable to child prodigy from actors as young as 10 who play guitar, bass, drums and keyboard remarkably well even though it is mimed due to some technical impossibilities.

A documentary film called Rock School was allegedly based on the film, though the producers claim it was in the works since 2002.

This film is number 98 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" [1].

Plot

Black plays Dewey Finn, a talented yet excitable 30-year-old heavy metal/hard rock singer and guitarist with a reputation for being difficult to work with. His flamboyant on-stage antics, however, get him kicked out of his band, "No Vacancy." His roommate Ned, a substitute teacher (played by White), threatens eviction under heavy pressure from his overbearing girlfriend (played by Sarah Silverman) unless Dewey gets a real job and pays his rent debt of $2200. Ned suggests selling one of his guitars instead, but Dewey's answer was silly ("Would you tell Picasso to sell his guitars?!"). A phone call from the principal (played by Joan Cusack) of a prestigious prep school asking for his roommate's services leads Dewey to impersonate his roommate and get a job as a substitute for the fifth-grade class.

Dewey takes the job to make a much money with as little effort as possible. When he discovers that some of the kids in the class have musical talent, he decides to turn his temporary job into what he tells them is a special school project but is actually a personal one: turn a classroom full of kids into a band and crew, complete with a ten-year-old manager (played by Miranda Cosgrove) which will serve as a vehicle to stardom.

Dewey is the band's lead singer and rock teacher, exposing his students to such rock legends as AC/DC, The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin (Dewey: "Don't tell me you've never gotten the Led out."), Pink Floyd, Rush, and Yes. Five rock stars are featured with classic footage in the movie: Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Angus Young, Keith Moon and Kurt Cobain. The movie culminates in the class's final project: performance in a local battle of the bands, where, instead of playing Dewey's "In the End of Time" they play "School of Rock" written by one of the young band members. Unfortunately, the class loses to Dewey's old band. However, the class does not care about the loss because Dewey's "school of rock" gives them more self-esteem and an understanding that rock transcends traditional notions of success and failure (Freddy the drummer: "Rock isn't about getting an A. Sex Pistols never won anything."). The band get an encore from the crowd and play "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" by AC/DC. This scene fades to the credits, which play over the next scene. This last scene features Dewey and Ned's 'School of Rock', in the form of them teaching kids to play in their apartment. The footage featuring Dewey and the kids playing "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" in the apartment was almost entirely improvised.

Supporting actors in the film include Joan Cusack, Sarah Silverman, Adam Pascal, and (an uncredited) Frank Whaley.

Additional notes

• The film was sponsored by Marshall and Gibson USA, if you notice all the guitars the actors use are from gibson, ex. dewey plays a SG and Zack plays a gibon flying V model, and all the Amps in the movie are from marshall, including the practice micro-amps they use to practice in the class rooms to the full cabs at the battle of the bands show.
• All the music played by the kids in the film was performed by the child actors.
• The typeface used on the poster to write "School of Rock" is the same type used to write the Rolling Stone magazine logo.
• One of the tag lines is a direct quote from the Pink Floyd song, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)." The line "We don't need no education" was used in some promotional materials.
• Jack Black admitted that he is still learning how to play the electric guitar and claims that the kids in the film are much better than he is. However, he said he loves doing solo parts and plays acoustic guitar more than he does electric.
• In Jack Black's room, before the Battle of the Bands, some of his music paraphinalia is visible. These include a Sex Pistols poster, an Alice in Chains poster, a Fugazi sticker, a Cannibal Corpse sticker, a Nine Inch Nails (abreviated as NIN) sticker, and a Soundgarden Badmotorfinger album art pin-up.
• The film is one of the few to feature a Led Zeppelin song as the band is known for not licensing their music. Knowing this, Richard Linklater filmed a plea by actor Jack Black in front of 1,000 screaming fans, imploring the band to let the production use the "Immigrant Song" in the movie. The plea worked and the filmed request is included on the DVD. Other films which feature Led Zeppelin songs include Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Almost Famous, The Stoned Age, One Day in September, and Small Soldiers. During the end credits, the song is credited to "James Page and Robert Plant", which is odd since Page usually is credited as "Jimmy".
• On May 5, 2006, the film got its network premiere on FOX. The event was hosted by Jack Black, who was also promoting his movie Nacho Libre (another Paramount release), opening June 16, 2006.
• Black's character in the film claims that rock 'n roll was killed by "a little thing called MTV." Coincidentally, School of Rock was released by Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Viacom, parent company of MTV.
• All the segments that Dewey taught the students to play were from real songs (for example, Lawrence played a segment from "Touch Me" by The Doors, and Zack played segments from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell").
• Katie is the only band member who does not get a solo during the end credits. Though one was filmed, it wasn't shown in the movie (all the singers, Zack, Lawrence, and Freddy got solos.)
• Jack Black is one half of the band Tenacious D.
• The album's original soundtrack was recorded at Echo Canyon, a studio belonging to the highly-influential rock band Sonic Youth. Then member Jim O'Rourke had a large part in the process acting as music consultant for the film.
• In the end credits Freddy is wearing a t-shirt featuring Green Day's Warning: symbol.
• In the battle of the bands performance of Zack's song "School of Rock", Zack is wearing a top-hat, most likely a reference to Slash, former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses.
• Also in the battle of the bands performance, Lawrence's spiked hair may be a reference to Madonna Wayne Gacy, keyboardist of Marilyn Manson. His cape is a reference to Rick Wakeman, keyboard player with Yes - Dewey gave him a copy of Yes's Fragile with a recommendation to listen to the keyboard solo in 'Roundabout'.
• Much of the movie was filmed on location at Wagner College in Staten Island.
• The movie contains many homages to AC/DC: three of their songs ("Highway To Hell", "Back In Black", and "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" are used in the movie, as well as "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" being quoted by Jack Black's character. The idea that the band will play with school uniform is direct reference to Angus Young's trademark schoolboy uniform, as is Dewey's schoolboy suit and Gibson SG guitar during the Battle Of The Bands performance.
• In conjunction with the movies release, Guitar Center held a contest to give away a maroon Gibson SG guitar, the same used by Black in the movie.
• Black states while trying to sell the SG that "Hendrix played". Jimi Hendrix is known to have only played one SG (a white model), and even in that case only played it once. It is now at the Atlanta Hard Rock Cafe.
• There is a reference to Schoolhouse Rock! when Jack Black claims that 9 is a magic number.
• In the picture of "Maggot Death" Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters is included in the picture as well as Jack Black and Mike White.

Awards and nominations

The film has been nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor - Comedy or Musical, and won Black an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.

Controversy concerning origins

A School of Rock was founded in Philadelphia in 1998 by musician Paul Green and was the subject of a recent award-winning documentary, Rock School. Green's program, personality, and life story may have influenced many of the aspects of the film. However, no credit was given to the program for inspiration. The school now has locations in Philadelphia, New York City, Downingtown, Cherry Hill, Somers Point, South Hackensack, Bucks County, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Wilmington and San Francisco.

Cast

• Jack Black (Dewey Finn)
• Mike White (Ned Schneebly)
• Sarah Silverman (Patty de Marco)
• Adam Pascal (Theo)
• Joan Cusack (Rosalin Mullins): Horace Green Principal
• Joey Gaydos Jr. (Zack Mooneyham): Lead Guitarist
• Rebecca Julia Brown (Katie): Bassist
• Kevin Alexander Clark (Freddy Jones): Drummer
• Robert Tsai (Lawrence): Keyboardist
• Maryam Hassan (Tomika): Back-up Vocalist
• Caitlin Hale (Marta): Back-up Vocalist
• Aleisha Allen (Alicia): Back-up Vocalist
• Miranda Cosgrove (Summer Hathaway): Band Manager
• Veronica Afflerbach (Eleni): Band Groupie
• Jordan-Claire Green (Michelle): Band Groupie
• Angelo Massagli (Frankie): Band Security
• Cole Hawkins (Leonard): Band Security
• Brian Falduto (Billy): Band Stylist
• James Hosey (Marco): Band Roadie
• Zachary Ryan Infante (Gordon): Band Roadie

External links

• Official site
• The School of Rock at IMDb