The Making Of: Boyhood

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Richard Linklater and Ellar Coltrane on the intimate epic

Boyhood , Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making coming-of-age drama follows Mason (Ellar Coltrane), as he faces the trials and tribulations of growing up.

The film also stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents, with Linklater’s daughter Lorelei also in for the long-haul.

Starting work on the project when he was aged just six, Coltrane grows up on-screen, with mesmerising results. Unlike anything that’s been seen before, it’s one of those rare cinema experiences that feels like a genuine landmark.

Given the time that they’ve invested in the project, we were naturally keen to speak to Linklater and Coltrane about the making of such an intimate epic.

Find out what they had to say about the film – and whether they’d be up for doing it all again – in the video below:

Boyhood opens in the UK on 11 July 2014.

For more from Coltrane, pick up issue 222 of Total Film magazine – available in print or on your tablet .

Matt Maytum
Matt Maytum

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.