DP/30: Boyhood, Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater is one of the most beloved filmmakers of his generation. He finds ways of bringing magic out his actors, whether in small parts or leads. And he tells unexpected stories. None more unexpected than Boyhood, which he made over the course of 13 years, 12 of it in a couple weeks of production each year. He talks to David Poland about the film, the process, and a life making movies.
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Shot in Los Angeles, June 2014.

[@ProfessorTime]

Richard Linklater could have "Sold Out" to Big Hollywood years ago. Never has. Linklater's courage to go his own way, on his own terms, with relatively small budgets, and to keep coming up with truly original premises time and time again, this self-taught filmmaker who never went to film school is a true inspiration to us all.

[@rowan631]

This just isn't true, he's done several for hire Hollywood hack jobs. Not that that's a bad thing, he makes them to put good on the table and makes movies like Boyhood to make art.

[@marceloariassouto2368]

Which would be the "several for hire Hollywood hack jobs" he's done?

[@SamL12345]

@@marceloariassouto2368 Linklater has done a few studio projects but always projects that align with his sensibilities, like School of Rock and Bernie, both of which are great Linklater films with his personality still intact.

[@marceloariassouto8545]

Richard Linklater = The most humane and creative U.S. filmmaker working today.

[@OneManProduct]

Thats true.

[@marceloariassouto8545]

After more than 20 years of career, Linklater is finally getting the recognition he deserves for being the most serious, humane and creative American filmmaker of his generation. I think he was more appreciated outside of the United States than in his own country.

[@furrygoose94]

And Paul Thomas Anderson! My two favourites, we're bless to have them.

[@MrPeaton28]

He's still young and already made such a great movies , his filmography is awesome.

[@krismilko]

Based on watching most of the interviews during the promotion of Boyhood, I must say that Richard Linklater looks like one of the most down-to-earth people I've seen. The fact that the movie caters to us college people with the music and the relateable events that happened during our childhood through our adolescent years makes Boyhood so precious to me. I really wish it won Best Picture and Best Director.

[@theman2017inc]

Same here, instead of BIRDMAN, which I liked but BOYHOOD is better!!!

[@nathanpickering9253]

One of the most unappreciated auteurs because he dosent have clear visual or narrative idiosyncrasies

[@xxwantedxx]

+Nathan Pickering well yeah if you have a short attention span... lol jk

[@elizabethjeffer1644]

brilliant film...!!!! can't wait to see it again. Brilliant film maker. Oscar worthy ..

[@el6178]

It s an extraordinary movie recording these incredibly small things that shape the person we become. The transition from the "full of life and excitement kids' to the teenage melancholic detouchedment , it's masterful in its depiction. It s painful to watch and very rewarding at the same time.

[@dizzt19]

I can't fucking wait to see the film! :)

[@TeeViz]

It's incredible.

[@KarlMarxhaswifi]

I watched this film when it first came out in 2014 and I was 21 and had an affinity for movies but wasn’t diving into arthouse at that time. I remember first watching this and thinking that was interesting and solid but I wasn’t blown away. Now at 29, I rewatched it since then and man, I got emotional. I am a kid whose parents divorce at 8 years old, my mom remarried to a guy who was abusive and my dad was a drunk/ drug addict and I was this kid who didn’t talk much and was artistic and a misfit and went onto become a teenager who thought he knew it all and would say things he thought were profound and thought he was different than the rest of his classmates. Everything just resonated, Arquette playing this mom who is playing the role of mother and father, that was my mom. I just really appreciated the way Linklater told this story and it’s very moving and very personal, and it now is special to me. Not to mention I am just one year older than Ellar Coltrane is so all the references and time period this film takes place in really lands and is very affecting for me. Thanks Linklater, I know you won’t ever see this but your work is very special to me.

[@holaquetal1918]

Great interview as always.

[@NeilFiertel]

It was the best and most thoughtful film I have seen and at my age, I have seen a lot of film.

[@ikee3]

Great interview man!

[@MrPeaton28]

Genious

[@garad123456]

I saw this video about a really cool director. I'll send you a linklater.

[@tooshay7396]

Love love love Before trilogy and boyhood. BTW: There's a theory or thing going around that 'boyhood' was made to also show the successful hormone therapy for childhood transgendering. Comments?

[@chordicalaus6128]

is that steven spielberg interviewing him?

[@101dotbitch]

Can anyone tell me where i can find this movie in Canada or online?

[@spacejesusadventure]

Does this have spoilers?

[@dp30]

Not really beyond the basics... generalities about the relationships.

[@JacobMcCaslin]

This dude directed School Of Rock…

[@diegopisfil614]

He's better than Ridley Scott

[@batman4ever860]

As great as it is to watch and hear Linklater talk and explain everything, I cant help but get really annoyed with the sound quality of the interview!

[@istvantoth7431]

what is this horrible hum? this could have been filtered ridiculously easily. just a cut on the EQ ...

[@HalFilm]

Great director. Not a great interviewer.

[@Godzilla52]

Lady's and gentlemen, I give you the most critically overrated director of our generation. I think Terrence Malick is going to have competition in the overpraised pretentious filmmaker hall of fame in the coming decades.

[@Godzilla52]

***** Try getting through all of Dazed and Confused and saying there isn't any pretentiousness there.

[@marceloariassouto8545]

Godzilla52 Always an ignorant moron making an arbitrary comment. How many Linklater films have you actually seen? If you had seen some, you'd realize that he's an experimental, innovative filmmaker, but not a pretentious one. He doesn't like the bombastic, the show off, the empty aesthetics of most mainstream directors, like Tarantino, Fincher, P.T. Anderson, or Nolan. He has a sophisticated, but also subtle and laid-back style. He doesn't care about the violence, the revenge, the torture, and the bloodbaths that contaminate so many movies these days. He's interested in the everyday life of ordinary people.

[@marceloariassouto8545]

Godzilla52 And Linklater is not and overrated director. Quite the contrary. He's been appreciated by the best U.S. critics (Andrew Sarris, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Kent Jones, David Walsh). But he's also been painfully underrated by the mainstream media, given the fact that he's one of the most humane and creative American filmmakers of the last 25 years. As one commentator said above, he could have sold out himself to Hollywood many years ago, but he decided to keep on working as a pretty independent artist, outside of Hollywood. Hopefully, he will finally get the recognition he deserves, with Boyhood. And I'm not talking about the fucking Oscars (Chaplin, Welles, Hitchcock, Hawks, Fuller, Nicholas Ray, Cassavetes, never won any, because that's a business award, not an artistic one). I'm talking about a bigger audience, and his movies being remembered by filmgoers over time.

[@Godzilla52]

MARCELO ARIAS SOUTO you're pretty much making my point for me about him being overrated.

[@marceloariassouto8545]

Godzilla52 No, I'm not making your point about him being overrated. He's totally underrated by mainstream media, and the Hollywood Academy, which has never even nominated him as best director. How old are you, 12?