By this time last year, "Boyhood" had already premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and the word was out: Richard Linklater‘s twelve-years-in-the-making coming-of-age movie wasn’t just an experimental lark, but a cinema experience. Even though it universally won over critics at Sundance, no one could have predicted what would happen across the next twelve months. The nearly-three-hour indie movie earned over $40 million at the box office, became one of the most talked-about pictures of the year, and is now up for six Oscars in all the major categories including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Editing. So, how did it all come together?
Today, we have an exclusive 14-minute featurette showcasing a conversation between Ira Glass, with Richard Linklater and "Boyhood" lead Ellar Coltrane. Taking place last fall at the SVA Theater in New York City, the talk goes into the making of the movie, developing the narrative arc, and much more. For fans of "Boyhood," this provides some lively insight into how this grand experiment cohered into the acclaimed film.
“I think fundamentally what I love about movies is the parallel reality of them. They’re a more selected, more attuned and more neatly edited version of life itself. It’s improved life,” Linklater says in the book "What I Love About Movies." Though in "Boyhood" he didn’t necessarily improve life, he put it up on the big screen in a way that’s never been done before.
Watch the talk below. "Boyhood" is now on digital and home video.