In the new film “School of Rock,” Jack Black portrays Dewey Finn, an unemployed musician whose dreams of making it big have overshadowed his every other ambition in life. After his band, No Vacancy, boots him in a push for corporate-rock glory, Dewey seems to be at the end of his rope. But a chance phone call leads to an unusual opportunity: substitute teaching fifth graders at a prestigious private school.
Once in the classroom, Dewey dispenses with the regular curriculum and begins to mold his students into a hard-driving rock’n’roll machine with an eye on a bigger prize: a lucrative “battle of the bands” showdown that will once again pit him against No Vacancy.
Directed by Richard Linklater (“Dazed and Confused,” “Slacker”), “School of Rock” features a cast of pre-teens chosen as much for their acting skills as their musical chops. The kids play all of their instruments in the film and on the Atlantic Tenacious D DVD on Nov. 4, and it’s called “Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks.” It has all the “Mr. Show” stuff, and it also has our greatest live performance ever captured on film. London. What made it special is that I battle and slay a 70-foot dragon. Fire-breathing, I might add. At great expense. We paid a lot to rent the dragon. It breathed too much smoke and you couldn’t see us for awhile, but you could hear us rocking. Then, as the smoke clears, you see that the f***in’ dragon has been vanquished.
Do you think Tenacious D will play any shows in the near future?
I don’t know. I’d like to shoot the movie first and then do some shows, you know what I mean? Priority one is the movie. We toured the crap out of that last album. I’m definitely into the next thing.
