Ethan Hawke confirms work has begun on Before Midnight

Rumours have long been circulating suggesting that Richard Linklater has been pondering a second sequel to his popular rom-coms Before Sunrise and Before Sunset , and finally, Ethan Hawke has confirmed that work has begun on a third film in the series.

The first film saw Delpy and Hawke play strangers who meet in Vienna and spend a wistful, tentatively romantic day together before going their separate ways some 24 hours later. Before Sunset repeated the trick, with a similarly chance encounter throwing them together in Paris.

Delpy and Hawke had recently been spotted in Greece, sparking rumours that a third film must be in the pipeline, and while Hawke wouldn't confirm that the third film would be set there, he did reveal that work has begun on what's tentatively been named Before Midnight .

"We’re here writing a third instalment to Before Sunrise ," he revealed. "If it works out, we’ll film it, and if it doesn’t, we won’t. It’s not really worth talking about. I’m just here developing.”

A fairly low-key soundbite then, although he did begin to sound excited as he warmed to his theme. "It's super good," he said of the prep he'd done with Linklater so far. "We're just here workshopping it and developing it, trying to create a great script."

So just knocking about in Greece with Julie Delpy for company, trying to work out the finer details of a romantic comedy. Nice work if you can get it...