Curiosities | Richard Linklater’s acclaimed film ‘Boyhood’ turns 8 in 2022!

2014 was a very strong year for movies – and one of its best exponents is undoubtedly the coming-of-age epic “Boyhood”.

Directed by Richard Linklater, the story centers on a couple of divorced parents (Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette) trying to raise their son Mason (Ellar Coltrane). The narrative traverses the boy’s life over a period of twelve years, from childhood to youth, and analyzes his relationship with his parents as he matures.

Considered not only one of the best films of the decade but also of the century, the production was extremely acclaimed by the public and specialized critics, achieving the rare feat of obtaining the perfect score on the review aggregator Metacritic. “Boyhood,” which ran for eleven years, garnered five Golden Globe nominations, five BAFTA nominations (which earned Linklater Best Director and Best Picture) and six Oscar nominations.

To celebrate its recent eight-year anniversary, CinePOP has prepared a short list of some behind-the-scenes curiosities.

Check:

Watch it: Linklater cast his daughter Lorelei Linklater as Samantha because she was always dancing and singing around the house and really wanted to be in their movies. By the third or fourth year of filming, she lost interest and requested that the character be killed off in the film. The director refused, saying it was too violent for what he had planned. Lorelei eventually regained her interest and continued with the project. Coltrane was seven years old when filming for the film began and 19 when filming ended.

Over the 12 years of recording, Hawke and Arquette have actually gone through divorces, marriages and had more children. Linklater revealed that because Arquette was a mother at such a young age, she was the only actress he considered playing Olivia. None of the actors were contractually obligated to return to the film each year under the De Havilland Act under California’s labor code, which makes it illegal to hire employees for more than seven years on the job.

According to Arquette, Linklater asked her not to have plastic surgery because it wouldn’t make sense for the character she was playing. The film’s precise timeline is never clear: the ever-changing time can only be identified by pop culture references, the soundtrack, and the technological advancements used by the characters. The creative team even took care to use songs from their respective years.

The film began shooting under the title “The Untitled 12 Year Project”, becoming just “12 Years” over time. However, upon completion, Linklater changed the title to “Boyhood: From Childhood to Youth”, to avoid confusion with “12 Years a Slave”. Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan has revealed that ‘Boyhood’ is his favorite film of 2014, despite directing ‘Interstellar’ the same year. The feature film was included in the book “1001 films to see before you die”, edited by Steven Schneider. Don’t forget to watch: