Trivia / School of Rock

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• Ability over Appearance: Billy was written to be of Indian descent but changed to white when Brian Falduto was cast.
• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • Jack Black came up with most of the nicknames for the kids.
  • Dewey's terrible stage dive at the start was based off something Jack witnessed Ian Astbury do once.
• Blooper: After Dewey congratulates Gordon on the lights at the concert, one of the girls comes over to him and calls him 'Jack' by mistake.
• Cast the Expert:
  • Richard Linklater only agreed to direct the film if all of the child actors played their own instruments.
  • Adam Pascal (Theo) has held lead male roles on Broadway since 1996, originating Roger Davis in RENT.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Rivka Reyes recalls auditioning for Summer, which went to Miranda Cosgrove. As they had experience playing guitar and classical music, and were encouraged to "rock out" in the audition, they create Katie the bass player just to have them in the film.
• The Cast Showoff: In the stage version, just as in the movie, all the students play their own instruments, with the guitarist in particular getting several spotlights. In addition, noted Broadway performer and crazy-good soprano Sierra Boggess gets to show off her upper range when conducting the students has her sing the Queen of the Night's aria from The Magic Flute.
• Creator Backlash: Mike White, who is bisexual and has a gay father, was thoroughly angry when he saw Richard Linklater playing up Billy ("Fancy Pants")'s Camp Gay stereotypes and disowned the movie as a result, which is why the sequel was canceled.
• Creator-Chosen Casting: Mike White had Jack Black in mind to play Dewey from the beginning, later admitting the movie likely never would have been made if Black had turned it down. For his part, Black was clearly having a blast on set and still has an Awesome, Dear Boy attitude about the whole thing:
  "That movie put me on the map in a lot of ways. It remains my favorite experience in my career because it gave me a chance to do all the things that I do best with acting and with performing and writing music, and working with my favorite writer, Mike White, who did such an incredible job writing in my voice. It’s very rare and very special when that happens.... working with Richard Linklater, the director, all the planets aligned on that one, and I’ve always felt like that’s the one that’s going to be on my tombstone, and I’m fine with that: the guy from School of Rock."
• The Danza: Aleisha Allen as Alicia^note Though in the movie it's pronounced 'a-lee-see-ah' as opposed to 'a-lee-sha'.
  • In the West End version, Dewey Finn is played by David Fynn.
• Dawson Casting: In the film Kevin Alexander Clark (Freddie) was fourteen playing a ten-year-old elementary school student. The Series wasn't this at the beginning but has become an example by not having the characters age, Freddy is played by Ricardo Hurtado, who is 17 (as of announcement of third season) while Lance Lim (Zachary) and Jade Pettyjohn (Summer) are both 16.
• Friendship on the Set: The child actors became fast friends and still keep in touch two decades later.
• Inspiration for the Work: Mike White was inspired to write the script when he moved in next to Jack Black - who would frequently play loud rock music and streak in the halls.
• Irony as She Is Cast:
  • Miranda Cosgrove is a much better singer than her character, Summer Hathaway. She had to take a forty minute lesson on how to sing badly.
  • Mike White is not much of a rock fan. The script was written so that Jack Black could perform his own music.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: The film was originally conceived as straight up musical. The film would eventually receive a Broadway musical adaptation in 2015.
• Orphaned Reference: Freddie's nickname, "Spazzy Magee," originally came from the fact that he had ADD and would have to take Ritalin in class. For obvious reasons, this was cut.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Joan Cusack is even pointed out to be doing this on the DVD Commentary, portraying the uptight principal of a school.
  • Shock comic Sarah Silverman as Ned's even more uptight bitch of a girlfriend. Not surprisingly, she didn't go for many roles like this afterward.^note Reportedly, she was Kevin Smith's first choice to play Emma, a similar character, in Clerks II, but she turned him down because she "didn't want to play girlfriends any more," then jokingly added that she'd play Randal "for free!"
  • The same is the case with the musical, with Sierra Boggess playing the principal when she's more well-known for romantic leads (like Christine and Ariel).
  • This is by far one of Richard Linklater's most conventional films (keep in mind he considers Dazed and Confused to be too plot-driven).
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Brian Falduto, who played the gay student Billy in the film, is gay in real life.
• Reality Subtext: Robert Tsai (Lawrence) approached Richard Linklater during production and said he felt he wasn't right for the part. Linklater assured him that he was, and his feelings of insecurity were partly what made him right for the part. Dewey had a similar talk with Lawrence in the film about being in the band.
• The Red Stapler: Many a child in the 2000s who saw this film was inspired to take up music in some fashion, Rivka Reyes recounting that many adult fans tell them they were inspired to try bass because of them.
• Star-Making Role:
  • Prior to this film, Jack Black was primarily known for his work in the alternative comedy scene, with only a couple of supporting roles in Hollywood movies (including another he'd made with Mike White) and one leading role under his belt. After this film, he became one of the most in-demand comedy actors of the 2000s.
  • Miranda Cosgrove also got a big boost in terms of becoming a 2000s Teen Idol, eventually getting Drake & Josh and iCarly.
• Stillborn Franchise: Plans for a sequel, entitled School of Rock: America Rocks, floated around in the late 2000s, the plot of which would have seen Dewey touring across America with a class of summer school students, delving into the history of rock and roll. Jack Black teased in 2007 that production would potentially start the following year, but plans quickly fell apart, none the least of which because Mike White refused to work with Richard Linklater again (see above).
• Technology Marches On: Dewey's ruse would be impossible to pull off after the 2010s. For one thing, Ms. Mullins would have called Ned's cell phone directly rather than his landline, meaning the script would have needed to find a Contrived Coincidence for Dewey to pick up on Ned's behalf. It also would have been much easier for Mullins to find pictures of Ned with a simple Google search and realize that Dewey looked considerably different.
  • Not to mention Dewey's request to be paid in cash because of the subterfuge he's pulling: taxation requirements and the ubiquity of Internet banking have now all but terminated this practise. (Although the joke still works if you switch in a third-party payment app like Venmo or PayPal.)
  • Also, background checks with a photo ID are required for any educational job in the US, even temp work.
• Throw It In!: Dewey throwing the chair at the Battle of the Bands auditions was improvised by Jack Black. Summer jumping in fright was Miranda Cosgrove's genuine reaction.
• Trend Killer: Being a send-up of inspirational teacher movies, this film killed that trend and created a new trend where the teachers are rather useless (such as Half Nelson and Bad Teacher). Attempts at reigniting inspirational teacher movies (such as Freedom Writers and Larry Crowne) have been critical and box office disappointments.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Dewey and Roz were originally going to become an Official Couple after their trip to the bar. The finished film only implies an attraction, and Roz still gets Ship Tease with Spider after the Battle of the Bands. She's Promoted to Love Interest in the Broadway version.
  • The teacher Dewey subs for was originally going to be accidentally run over by him personally at the start of the film. This was later changed to her falling in the shower and breaking her leg off-screen.
  • There was a part in the original script where Freddy Jones would forget his drumsticks to class and having Dewey to say: "Would Keith Moon forget his sticks? No! He might get drunk and pass out on the floor, but he would never forget his sticks!"
• Working Title: The original screenplay was called The School of Rock, and it was later shortened to School of Rock. However, the opening credits had already been designed and partially shown in theaters with the word "The" in the title. Richard Linklater decided not to digitally remove the extra word from the credits.
• Written by Cast Member: Mike White wrote this movie and also portrays Ned Schneebly.

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