STACK #124 Feb 2016

more like a previous project of Linklater’s, the filmmaker believes, over Boyhood . “I would think the Up series is probably close to my Before trilogy in that I have a nine-year gap in time to see how much time changes you,” he explains. “[ Boyhood is about] a fictional character we’ve created, so it’s more artistic; it’s not like an intrusive camera asking you about your life and your aspirations and what you did the last seven years.” The central character in the film is Mason Evans, Jr., played by Ellar Coltrane, whom Linklater cast when the actor was just six years old. “That was certainly the wildcard moment of the whole movie,” he chuckles. “Casting him was going to set the tone for the whole movie. It was such a big decision. I just went with the thoughtful kid, the kid who was excited about storytelling, the kid who could tell you everything about music and movies and wasn’t trying to be too cute. He was just himself.”

• Boyhood is out Feb 26

“There was a moment early on where I’d kind of given up on it as a film, because of the limitations

you just mentioned,” he says. “I thought, well, this is more like a novel. This isn’t a movie, I’m in the wrong medium here. But, when I actually sat down to write that novel, I swear to God as soon as my hands hit the keyboard this idea popped into my head. I’d solved my problem after a couple years of thinking about it. I just saw Boyhood in my head, the movie, and everyone was aging, you know, gradually. So there it was. I’d solved my problem.” And once the idea had come to him, he says, he couldn’t imagine proceeding in any other fashion, which is why he simply could not get frustrated with the process. “We looked at time as our companion, as our asset rather than our enemy,” he says. “Time was something to be collaborated with. This unknown future that rolls every second right before us – that was our friend. It was going to be the secret sauce that made this movie work.”

sensitive guy with plenty to say about the world and himself, art and culture. Along the way I think he became a very good actor; it was fun to see that craft get honed over the years, working with myself, Ethan and Patricia.” Linklater admits that

It must have been difficult not to spend many anxious hours trying to foresee what this boy could potentially turn into, as an actor, but Linklater went with his gut. “He just had wonderful qualities, and I think that’s largely the young man he is today: a very thoughtful,

initially, he was stymied about how to portray a load of time passing without utilising clumsy techniques like wrinkly make-up or an older actor portraying the same, younger character.

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