Boyhood was released this summer to great fanfare, and for good reason: No other movie has been made the same way. Shot over twelve years with the same cast, Boyhood captures a dozen years of the lives of its young stars, Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater (the director’s daughter), as well as their parents, played by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke.
Before the movie’s release, the question of “how did they pull that off” was the most compelling hook. (Afterward, the power of actually watching so many years of a person’s life unfold in front of you on film dominated the discourse.) This ten minute featurette answers that question, showing behind the scenes footage shot during the decade-plus the film was made.
In 2002 Lorelei Linklater rattles off some of her favorite movies—she names her dad’s Waking Life, but only the animation (“Not to insult you, daddy, but it was kind of boring for a little child”), proving that the scene-stealing she demonstrates in the film comes naturally to her. Ellar Coltrane, meanwhile, grows into the same sort of contemplative, thoughtful young man behind the scenes that his character, Mason Jr., is in the film. As a document of what went into one of the most potent, unique pieces of filmmaking of this or any year—and one whose name got called a lot during the Golden Globe nomination announcement yesterday (and will probably do the same when they announce who’s in competition for the Oscars)—this is a fine way to let 12 years unfold over ten minutes.
