Teaching kids to rock the boat.
More info on the kids:
No less impressive are the young performers who play the schoolkids. In casting a mix of professionals and first-timers, Linklater says that he wasn't so worried about acting ability - "most kids that age are pretty natural" - but he was keen to get a mix of interesting personalities, and some parts were completely rewritten to suit the character of certain individuals. But musical ability was a casting issue: "We scoured the country looking for prodigy-level musicians. They had to be a real band and had to be able to really play."Cheerio!
This presented a unique opportunity for Robert Tsai, who was discovered playing classical piano at the Lincoln Centre in New York. Taking on the role of the shy and socially under-confident Lawrence, the pre-teen learnt to play in a very different style for the movie - a challenge he took to with a great deal of skill and enthusiasm.
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