"School Of Rock" Just Turned 20, So Here Are 20 Cool Facts About The Movie That I Think You Should Know

Yes, this movie is officially old, which means that we're all officially old. Yay!

School of Rock turns 20 years old today!

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To celebrate this hardcore film that taught us all to stick it to the man, here are 20 fun facts about the movie!

1. The actor who played Ned (Dewey's roommate) actually wrote the film.

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His name is Mike White and he has a truly iconic career. His writing credits include Nacho Libre and Freaks and Geeks. As an actor, he's appeared in cult-classics like Zombieland. He's even has a career on reality TV, competing on shows like The Amazing Race and Survivor. 

2. In order to get the rights to "Immigrant Song," Richard Linklater sent a video to Led Zeppelin of Jack Black begging on behalf of the film.

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In the video, Jack Black stands before a crowd of cheering extras. He addresses each band member and calls them "the Gods of Rock." Then, he goes on to say that "your song would be the hard-rockin' cherry on the top of the mountain". 

Luckily, the stunt worked and Linklater got permission to use the song. 

You can watch the "plea" video here:

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The video starts at the 0:31 mark. 

3. Richard Linklater has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the film.

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When talking to his roommate, Dewey holds up a photo of his band Maggot Death. In the photo, you can see Jack Black, Mike White, and Richard Linklater. 

4. At just 10 years old, Miranda Cosgrove was the youngest cast member on set.

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She was only eight years old when she auditioned for the role. While she was anxious at the start of filming, her costar, Jack Black, helped put her at ease. She said that "after three days with Jack, I was completely not nervous anymore.”

5. Orignally, Summer Hathaway (Miranda Cosgrove's character) was supposed to be a talented singer, but they ended up giving that storyline to Tomika.

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Cosgrove actually had to take "bad" singing lessons so she could properly butcher "Memory" in the film.

6. Billy, AKA the most iconic character in the film, wasn't originally a fashion designer.

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Apparently, the original character was a bit of a tech geek, but Linklater made Billy in charge of the band's costumes after casting Brian Falduto in the role. His delivery of the line, "you're tacky and I hate you" deserved an Oscar. 

7. BTW, Brian Falduto is now a country singer and he's killing it. Here's the music video for his song "Same Old Country Love Song":

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^^^This song is very gay and it high-key slaps. 

8. The cast are all on a group chat called "Schnayblay."

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According to Maryam Hassam, the gang keeps in touch pretty frequently. 

9. It was Richard Linklater's idea to have the kids soundproof the classroom.

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Linklater wanted the film to have a more grounded feel than the original screenplay. According to Jack Black, " [Linklater]  was addressing things like, 'I don’t believe this. They’re doing a music class and nobody finds out? They have to soundproof the classroom. Let’s do this right.' "

10. The characters were shaped around the kid's real personalities.

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In an interview with Rolling Stone, Maryam Hassan said, "they allowed us to be the kids that auditioned for the movie. Of course, it may not have been our story fully, but the personality, that was us." 

11. Zach's song "School of Rock" was co-written by The Mooney Suzuki.

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Jack Black was originally tasked to write the finale song, but had massive writer's block. After seeing The Mooney Suzuki open for The Strokes, Black went backstage asked garage rock band for some co-writing help. The next day, they texted Jack Black with a rough cut of the song "School of Rock".  

You can listen to the final song here:

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12. During Dewey's history of music lecture, you can spot a spelling mistake on the chalkboard.

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The board has "Siouxie and the Banshees," but the correct spelling is Siouxsie and the Banshees. 

13. Robert Tsai, the actor who played Lawrence, frequently "broke" during filming. One of the takes of Tsai breaking actually ended up in the movie.

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Apparently, Tsai laughed the most during production and frequently ruined takes.

You can watch the scene here:

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Tsai starts to break at the 2:42 mark, when Jack Black sings "Lawrence is good at piano."

14. The scene where Dewey gives a body-positive pep talk to Tomika is one of Jack Black's favourite scenes in his entire career.

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In an interview with Vanity Fair, Black said,"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."  

You can watch the scene here:

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The scene went viral two years ago, with people on Twitter praising the "revolutionary" portrayal of fatness.

15. Also, the actor who played Tomika is now an R&B singer.

Instagram: @mayhrenate

 Maryam Hassan was the last person cast on the film, and it was her first acting role! Nowadays, Hassan is dropping bangers left and right (my personal favourites are  "Crown" and "Feel A Way"). 

You can see one of her music videos here:

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16. For the ten year anniversary, Jack Black reunited the band on the stage.

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They performed a truly epic version of "It's A Long Way To The Top", and, in true School of Rock fashion, nearly everyone got a solo. 

You can see part of their amazing performance here:

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17. In the original cut of the film, Jack Black and Joan Cusak kiss.

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That scene, and their entire romantic arc, was ultimately scrapped. In the Broadway adaptation, the characters of Dewey and Principal Mullins do get their love story. 

18. Lucas Babin, AKA the actor who played "Spider", is now a District Attorney and a registered Republican.

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He's the current DA of Tyler County, Texas. 

19. The kids are now roughly the same age as Jack Black when he filmed the movie.

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Jack Black was 33 when the movie was filmed, and the "kid" cast are now all in the 30-35 age range. 

20. Kevin Clark came up with the ending of the film.

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Kevin Clark, who played Freddy (the drummer), was the one to suggest that School of Rock get an encore after losing to No Vacancy. 

Tragically, Kevin Clark passed away in 2021. At the the time, he was a teacher at an actual School of Rock. 

You can see the iconic ending here:

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What did School of Rock mean to you? Tell us in the comments below!