Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies "Slacker" (1990) and "Dazed and Confused" (1993); the "Before" trilogy romance films—"Before Sunrise" (1995), "Before Sunset" (2004), and "Before Midnight" (2013); the music-themed comedy "School of Rock" (2003); the animated films "Waking Life" (2001) and "A Scanner Darkly" (2006); the coming-of-age drama "Boyhood" (2014); and the comedy film "Everybody Wants Some!!" (2016).