Much has been made of the 12-year journey that filmmakerRichard Linklaterembarked on to makeBoyhood, where audiences literally saw Mason (Ellar Coltrane) grow up before their very eyes on screen. Ever since the film debuted at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the filmmaker has said that he isn’t interested in making a sequel, but during an interview withThe Q&A Podcast,Richard Linklateradmitted he is warming up to the idea of aBoyhood 2. Here’s what he had to say below.
“To be honest… this film first met its audience exactly a year ago and for the first six months of the year, my answer to that was absolutely not. This was twelve years, it was first grade through 12th grade; it was about getting out of high school. I had no idea about another story, there’s nothing to say. It hadn’t crossed my mind. But I don’t know if it’s been a combination of finally feeling that this is over or being asked a similar question a bunch over the last year, that I thought, well, I wake up in the morning thinking, ‘the 20s are pretty formative, you know?’ That’s where you really become who you’re going to be. It’s one thing to grow up and go to college, but it’s another thing to… So, I will admit my mind has drifted towards [this sequel idea].”
Even ifBoyhood 2does move forward, though,Richard Linklateradded that it won’t be told over a 12-year period of time.
“The twelve years [structure] came out of [school structure]. It wouldn’t have to be twelve years. It wouldn’t have to be… I mean, who knows. I mean, if I learned anything on the Before trilogy it took five years to realize that Jesse and Celine were still alive and had anything to say. This one would probably be more accelerated, but who knows.”
The filmmaker also said that this idea for a sequel is coming about in the same way that he first crafted the initialBoyhoodplot.
“I can tell it’s happening [in the same way] because I start coming up with ideas about [that time period]. The same way I thought aboutBoyhood: just these random little memories about being in my twenties that might seem insignificant on paper, but telling and important. And developmentally, like, ‘oh, that was kind of a moment’; a lot of moments from the fraught 20s.”
When asked if he would still use the same cast fromBoyhood, including Ellar Coltrane,Ethan Hawkeand Oscar winnerPatricia Arquette, the director had this to say.
“I would love to keep working with this cast and I think we all would. But that can’t be the primary reason to do it. You always need something to say. You can’t do it just cause you want to work with your friends, you gotta have something really inside you you’re trying to communicate about those years. I might happen, but I dunno, it’s in the ether in the moment.”
Would you like to see what happens to Mason during his college years in aBoyhoodsequel? The filmmaker’s next project,That’s What I’m Talking About, has been described as a “spiritual sequel” toBoyhood, since it begins right whereBoyhoodends, with a young man arriving at college. We’ll keep you posted on any updates regarding a sequel toBoyhoodas soon as we have more concrete information.
