Watch Out Who You Write About!

Three Huntsville residents who say they went to high school with Austin film director Richard Linklater accused him of using them as the basis for the girl-chasing, drug-taking characters in his film "Dazed and Confused" in a lawsuit filed last week, 11 years after the movie was released.

"Dazed and Confused" is Linklater's 1993 cult classic following the drug-and-alcohol-fueled antics of teenagers on the last day of high school in the 1970s. Universal Studios, also included in the suit, is scheduled to release a special edition DVD of the movie Nov. 2.

According to their civil complaint, the men claim the movie subjected them to "relentless harassment, embarrassment and ridicule."

Linklater, who wrote and directed the film, used modified versions of the three plaintiffs' names in the movie.

Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard "Pink" Floyd are portrayed in the movie as David Wooderson, Ron Slater and Randall "Pink" Floyd, respectively.

The similarity in name and likeness of the characters is obvious, said attorney Ernest Freeman.

"My clients were not asked nor did they give their permission to be portrayed in this movie," he said.

The movie has turned these men into unwitting celebrities and cast them in a less than flattering light, Freeman said.

(thx to Bill and The Daily Texan)