The sour taste that was left in many film fans’ mouths after the recent, not-so-great Richard Linklater film, “Where’d You Go Bernadette” was quickly washed away thanks to the surprise announcement that the filmmaker was adapting Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical, “Merrily We Roll Along.” The news of a new film wasn’t all that fans were given, as it was also revealed that ‘Merrily’ would be yet another filmmaking experiment for Linklater, who will take twenty years to produce the film with the same cast reprising their roles over the decades.
Yes, that’s very similar to Linklater’s Oscar-winning feature “Boyhood.” But that film famously filmed over only eight years, making “Merrily We Roll Along” twice as great, right?
Well, in a new interview with IndieWire, Ben Platt, who stars in ‘Merrily’ alongside Beanie Feldstein, opened up about the new film and the intense filming schedule. Specifically, he explains how Linklater is scheduling production on the film, as bits and pieces will be shot at specific times over the next two decades.
“We did the first sequence this summer, and the idea is to follow the schematic of the show literally, in the sense that if there’s a scene that takes place in ‘57 and one in ‘61, we’ll wait four years and shoot the next one. So we’re corresponding with the map of the show. Other than that, it’s sort of like — ‘let’s get together and make a short film’ — and then disperse, and do that nine times,” he explained.
For those not familiar with the story, “Merrily We Roll Along” is a musical about a Hollywood bigshot producer that has alienated most of his friends and family since leaving for the big city. The original musical (as well as the film) begins in 1976 and follows a backward timeline, as we see the man’s life roll back from the height of his Hollywood fame to his humble beginnings in 1957.
As you might imagine, when the new film, along with its incredibly ambitious two-decades-long production schedule, was announced, film fans were a bit skeptical. Of course, there were those that hope Linklater’s latest will be a return to his “Boyhood” days. But many saw it as a gimmick or publicity stunt, aimed to drive interest in a project that could have been done in a more traditional way.
To those doubters, Platt defended the film, and said, “It’s too brilliant of a solution not give it a try. Obviously it’s a lot to bite off and we’re all kinda taking a leap of faith, in that a million different things could happen that could make this not come to fruition, but everyone involved is really passionate enough to give it a try.”
If the first “sequence” was shot this summer, and it’s expected to take twenty years to produce, let’s pencil “Merrily We Roll Along” in for some time during awards season in 2039. See you there!