There’s never been a film that’s rocked quite as hard as School of Rock .
It was one of the defining films of the early 2000s and helped catapult Jack Black’s fame into the stratosphere.
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As hard as it is to believe, it’s been nearly 20 years since the film first hit theaters. Let’s get nostalgic and check out this 10+ School of Rock behind the scenes secrets that fans didn’t know.
It was the role that Jack Black was born to play.
Writer Mike White and Jack Black had just finished working with one another on Orange County . From that moment on, White knew that he was going to write something specifically with Jack in mind.
He didn’t know what it was going to be at first, other than it would revolve around rock n’ roll.
Jack was a role model off-camera.
Most actors show up, run their scenes, and leave — but not Jack Black. If the kids were on set, that meant that he was on set as well.
He even used to play games with them between scenes!
Most of the songs were written in the classroom.
Jack Black has admitted that writing the music for the film was a little scary.
Many of the songs were written on the fly and completely ad-libbed by Jack and the kids.
Summer Hathaway was originally written to be a completely different character.
Summer was the band’s know-it-all manager. But she wasn’t always so prissy and perfect.
Originally, she was written to be more akin to Britney Spears and was going to be a great singer.
The kids really played their own instruments.
Richard Linklater wasn’t just casting actors, he needed musicians as well. By Jack Black’s own admission, each one of the kids is a child prodigy in their own right.
They’d have to be, just to keep up!
Miranda Cosgrove had a pretty embarrassing audition.
Nothing went wrong, so to speak, it was just that Miranda’s choice of song is slightly regrettable.
She sang a show-tune called “Hey, Look Me Over.” In case you had trouble placing her, Miranda played Summer in the film.
Jack Black joked that this was the most demanding film he’d ever made.
Mainly, because School of Rock was also the first time Jack had ever worked with kids. But in all seriousness , Jack does deserve high praise.
He acted, performed, as well as wrote the music. Not many people could do what Jack does.
Miranda Cosgrove had to learn how to sing poorly.
You read that correctly — Miranda needed to be taught how to sing poorly. She had vocal instruction and everything to help her butcher the part perfectly.
I could have taught her for nothing.
Some of the parents had their concerns about Jack Black.
From their perspective, I can sort-of understand where they’re coming from. Jack’s performances in films like Orange County and Tropic Thunder don’t exactly inspire parental confidence.
For what it’s worth, I bet Jack is the coolest dad on planet earth.
Joey Gaydos Jr. and Kevin Alexander Clark auditioned together!
Joey and Kevin play Zack and Freddy in the movie. After they each had their individual audition, the producers brought them back and asked them to play a song together.
The boys performed ” Day Tripper ,” by The Beatles and “Iron Man,” by Black Sabbath.
Robert Tsai couldn’t stop laughing.
Robert plays the piano man known as Lawrence in the movie. One of the things that he remembers most fondly is how Jack was constantly ad-libbing .
He ruined take after with his fits of laughter.
Richard Linklater turned it down!
Richard Linklater is the genius mind behind films like Dazed and Confused , Before Sunrise , and A Scanner Darkly . He isn’t the first name you think of when discussing mainstream feel-good movies.
Richard felt much the same, but producer Scott Rudin wouldn’t accept his refusal.
There’s one scene that Jack holds in very high regard.
During an interview with Vanity Fair , Jack was asked to pick out his favorite scene from his canon of work.
“I liked in School of Rock when I had the heart-to-heart about my weight issues. That felt like a good scene, I guess because it felt very true to me,” Jack said earnestly.
Not swearing was difficult for Jack.
One thing he swore that he wouldn’t do was to drop an F-bomb while any of the kids were in the room with him. According to Jack, that’s the sign of a great actor : being able to cuss with your facial expressions.
The band got back together.
For the 10-year-anniversary of School of Rock , Jack and the original cast got together to play some tunes. They dusted off all the old favorites from the film, including “School of Rock.”
They’ve still got it.
