School of Rock Information

School of Rock (also called The School of Rock) is a 2003 American musical comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, written by Mike White, and starring Jack Black. The main plot follows starving rock singer and guitarist, Dewey Finn (portrayed by Black), who is kicked out of his band No Vacancy and subsequently disguises himself as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. After witnessing the musical talent in his students, Dewey forms a band of fifth-graders to win the upcoming Battle of the Bands and pay off his rent.

Plot

Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a rock singer and guitarist in a fictional rock band, No Vacancy. The band is generally unpopular and downtrodden due to Dewey's arrogance and hyperactive stage antics during their performance at a nightclub. The next day, No Vacancy vote Dewey out from the band by replacing him with another guitarist named Spider (Lucas Babin). Furthermore, Dewey's submissive roommate and lifelong friend, Ned Schneebly (Mike White), is pressured by his girlfriend, Patty Di Marco (Sarah Silverman), to evict Dewey unless he gets a real job to pay off his growing rent debt. Dewey feels forced to give up his passion as a rock musician until he receives an urgent phone call intended for Ned from Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack), the principal of a prestigious prep school, Horace Green, asking Ned to fill in for a teacher who broke her leg.

Desperate for income to avoid getting evicted, Dewey impersonates Ned and takes the job as a substitute teacher for a fifth-grade class. When Dewey shows up at class, he requests the students to call him "Mr. S." after failing to spell the name "Schneebly" on the board. Incompetent as a teacher, Dewey resorts to grimacing over his rental problems and joblessness, allowing his students to do as they wish and give them constant recess time. Occasionally, Dewey gives casual and de-motivational lectures to the class in return to a student whom asks to be taught. When Dewey overhears his students playing in music class, he realizes that the children of his class are musically talented. Dewey decides to turn his temporary job into what he tells them is a "special class project", but is actually a personal one; his class is converted into a rock band and crew to serve as a vehicle to stardom by winning the upcoming Battle of the Bands, where he is out to avenge his eviction from his old band and win the $20,000 prize.

He says that the project will test "your head and your mind and your brain." After realizing that the kids are mostly interested in pop and Hip Hop, Dewey turns the school days into lessons of rock history and music playing, exposing his students to those artists he regards as rock legends. Many rock legends are featured in classic photos and footage during a montage scene, including Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Iggy Pop, The Who, Rush, The Clash, Nirvana, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and David Bowie. Dewey narrowly escapes detection in which Ms. Mullins decides to attend one of his class's lessons to check on their progress, forcing him to attempt to teach the actual course material. Dewey attempts to befriend her through Rock music, by playing her favorite song "Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks on a jukebox while visiting a bar.

The two develop a close friendship after this. Meanwhile, the class audition for the Battle of the Bands, which Dewey told them was their "school project." They are rejected because they show up too late. With the help of class factotum and band manager Summer Hathaway (Miranda Cosgrove), Dewey persuades the Battle's managers to let the students perform in the Battle of the Bands by lying that the students are actually orphans, all terminally ill with "stick-it-to-da-man-ni-osis". However, Dewey is exposed when Ned receives a paycheck from Horace Green in the mail, despite not working there. During the parent-teacher night later on, Dewey meets the students' parents, who initially scrutinize Dewey's teaching abilities, utilizing the fact that their children were becoming more engrossed in music than schoolwork. Dewey succeeds in convincing them that he is a competent teacher. Ned eventually appears with the police and confronts Dewey under pressure from Patty.

His real identity is revealed, and he is sacked. He attempts to assuage the shocked parents, only leading them to believe he is a pedophile through a pun-related misunderstanding. Considering himself a failure, he falls into depression, and Ned sadly informs him that it may be time he moved out. The next day, at Horace Green, the class decide that even if Dewey and the project was fake, they have still put too much work in to not do the final show at Battle of the Bands, and so they leave for the concert, first stopping at Dewey's apartment to persuade him to join them. After finding out that the class's performance was back, Patty calls the school and Ms. Mullins and the parents find out, and Ned finally stands up to his girlfriend and leaves her to watch the concert. At the competition, the band plays "School of Rock", a song written by their lead guitarist, Zack Mooneyham (Joey Gaydos, Jr.), instead of Dewey's "The Legend of the Rent".

Despite the strong reception from the audience, including Ms. Mullins and the students' parents, the class loses to No Vacancy, but accept their defeat due to Dewey's proclamation that they were not here to win and that they were going to play "one great show." However, the audience becomes angered by No Vacancy's victory and demand School of Rock to return to the stage. The band goes for an encore, playing a cover of "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" by AC/DC with an altered ending. During the film's closing credits, Summer is seen arguing a deal over her cell phone as she enters the "School of Rock," a newly opened after-school program where Dewey continues to coach the class and Ned teaches beginning music students, and the credits roll as the class, breaking the fourth wall, sings "The movie is over, but we're still on screen."

Cast

• Jack Black as Dewey Finn
• Joan Cusack as Principal Rosalie "Roz" Mullins
• Mike White as Ned Schneebly
• Sarah Silverman as Patty Di Marco
• Miranda Cosgrove as Summer "Tinkerbell" Hathaway
• Joey Gaydos Jr. as Zack "Zack-Attack" Mooneyham
• Kevin Clark as Freddy "Spazzy McGee" Jones
• Rebecca Brown as Katie "Posh Spice"
• Robert Tsai as Lawrence "Mr. Cool"
• Maryam Hassan as Tomika "Songbird", "Turkey Sub"
• Caitlin Hale as Marta "Blondie"
• Aleisha Allen as Alicia "Brace Face"
• Brian Falduto as Billy "Fancy Pants"
• Zachary Infante as Gordon "Roadrunner"
• James Hosey as Marco "Carrot Top"
• Angelo Massagli as Frankie "Tough Guy"
• Cole Hawkins as Leonard "Short Stop"
• Jordan-Claire Green as Michelle
• Veronica Afflerbach as Eleni
• Adam Pascal as Theo
• Lucas Babin as Spider
• Lucas Papaelias as Neil
• Shawn Rodney as Shawn

Production

A stage dive gone wrong incident involving Ian Astbury of rock band The Cult was witnessed by Jack Black, and was used as inspiration for a scene in School of Rock, in which the character Dewey Finn, stage dives and hits the floor; "I went to see a reunion, in Los Angeles, of The Cult; they were playing and Ian Astbury, the lead singer, took a dive. It was at The Viper Room, and it was just a bunch of jaded Los Angelinos out there, and they didn't catch him and he plummeted straight to the ground. Later I thought it was so hilarious. So that was put into the script."

Many scenes from the movie were shot around the New York City area. The school portrayed in School of Rock is actually Main Hall at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. In the commentary, the kids say that every hallway scene in the movie was shot in exactly the same hallway. The tag lines are references to famous rock songs: "We Don't Need No Education" is a famous line from "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" by Pink Floyd and "Come On Feel the Noize" is taken from "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Slade.

Music

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album of the same name was released on September 30, 2003. The film's director, Richard Linklater, scouted the country for talented 13-year-old musicians to play the rock-and-roll music that features on the soundtrack and in the film.

The soundtrack includes "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, a band that historically has not allowed their songs to be used for commercial purposes, and rarely give permission for anyone to use their songs, one noted exception being filmmaker Cameron Crowe, who was the only person to write about them favorably while he was a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. To get permission, Richard Linklater came up with the idea to shoot a video on the stage used at the end of the film, with Jack Black begging the band for permission and the crowd cheering and chanting behind him. The video was sent directly to Led Zeppelin, and permission was granted for the song. The video can be seen on the DVD extras.

Music featured within the film

• "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" by AC/DC (Dewey uses the lyrics in a speech to the class)
• "Fight" by No Vacancy*
• "Stay Free" by The Clash
• "Touch Me" by The Doors*
• "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" (Ramones cover) by Kiss
• "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream*
• "Back in Black" by AC/DC
• "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath (riff Dewey plays to Zack)
• "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC (riff Dewey plays to Zack)
• "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple (riff Dewey plays to Zack)
• "Substitute" by The Who*
• "Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston (Dewey mentions the lyrics as his reason for no testing)
• "Roadrunner" by The Modern Lovers
• "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" by Ramones*
• "The Wait" (Killing Joke cover) by Metallica

• "Sad Wings" by Brand New Sin
• "Mouthful of Love" by Young Heart Attack
• "Black Shuck" by The Darkness
• "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin*
• "Set You Free" by The Black Keys*
• "Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks*
• "Ballrooms of Mars" by T. Rex*
• "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
• "TV Eye" by The Stooges*
• "Ride into the Sun" by The Velvet Underground
• "Heal Me, I'm Heartsick" by No Vacancy*
• "School of Rock" by School of Rock*
• "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" (AC/DC cover) by School of Rock*
• "Math Is a Wonderful Thing" by Jack Black and Mike White*

* Featured on the Soundtrack album

Reception

School of Rock earned overwhelmingly acclaim reviews, with Black's performance being praised by many critics. It received a "Certified Fresh" rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 192 reviews with an average rating of 7.8/10. On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 82/100 which indicates "universal acclaim".

Box office performance

According to Box Office Mojo, School of Rock opened at #1 with a weekend gross of $19,622,714 from 2,614 theaters for an average of $7,507 per venue. In its second weekend, the film declined just 21 percent, earning another $15,487,832 after expanding to 2,929 theaters, averaging $5,288 per venue, and bringing the 10-day gross to $39,671,396. In its third weekend, it dropped only 28 percent, making another $11,006,233 after expanding once again to 2,951 theaters, averaging $3,730 per venue, and bringing the 17-day gross to $54,898,025. It spent a total of six weeks among the Top 10 films and eventually grossed $81,261,177 in the United States and Canada and another $50,015,772 in international territories for a total gross of $131,282,949 worldwide, almost four times its budget of $35 million.

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for several awards, including Black receiving Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor - Comedy or Musical (which he lost to Bill Murray for Lost in Translation), and winning an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.

Legacy

Sequel

On May 23, 2008, Jack Black revealed a sequel was in the works: "I'd really like to do it, the last one was great. We are seriously thinking about it; there's already a script. In a few weeks we have to decide if we go through with the project or not."

Variety reported on July 13, 2008 that Richard Linklater is attached to direct again, and Scott Rudin is returning as producer. Mike White, who penned the first, is writing the screenplay, titled "School of Rock 2: America Rocks," which picks up with Finn leading a group of summer school students on a cross-country field trip that delves into the history of rock 'n' roll and explores the roots of blues, rap, country and other genres.

America Rocks was confirmed by Paramount on July 14, 2008. However, on September 5, 2008, director Richard Linklater said the film "might not" happen at all and that Paramount just jumped the gun on the news.

On June 16, 2009, while promoting his new film Year One, Black commented on the development of the film, saying, "Yeah, there's development. We'll see. I don't know. I'm a little hesitant about doing a sequel. I had fun doing the first one, just don't want to do something because it's there. I want to do it because it's going to be really funny or better than the first one."

On October 4, 2012, Jack Black then stated that a sequel would be highly unlikely, "I tried really hard to get all the pieces together. I wouldn't want to do it without the original writer and director, and we never all got together and saw eye-to-eye on what the script would be. It was not meant to be, unfortunately.". However, Black did not cross out a sequel entirely, adding, "Never say Never.". He then revealed an anniversary party with the original cast and crew sometime in 2013.

Stage adaptation

On April 5, 2013, Andrew Lloyd Webber announced that he has bought the rights to School of Rock to a stage musical. No other information, including cast, creative team, and production, is known yet.