Richard Linklater gave details of his new film that will be filmed over 20 years

Director Richard Linklater reflected on the difficulties behind his new film, which will be filmed over 20 years.

Linklater He began his career behind the cameras in 1990 with Slacker, a film that in addition to directing and writing, he starred in. His career continued with Dazed and Confusedbut began to establish itself with the premiere of his third film: Before dawnwhich would become an absolute classic along with its two sequels.

Throughout his long and successful career, he has gone through different types of genres, from comedy to drama, and even mixing a bit of both in many cases. But there is no doubt that his riskiest bet came in 2002, when he began production of Boyhooda project that would take more than a decade to complete.

Its objective was to portray the life of its young protagonist as faithfully as possible, showing us his childhood and adolescence, with an actor who would grow along with the filming instead of changing actors or using technology to age or rejuvenate him. Now, the director works on Merrily We Roll Alonga film that will take more than 20 years to film.

Richard Linklater and his casting process

Speaking with The New York Times, the director spoke about the casting process for the film, one of the most complex processes behind such a complicated production:

“But we’re telling a story that takes place over 20 years, and It’s really important, for this story to work, that you feel those years go by. That was Boyhood. You had to feel life go by.

And this movie is about long-term friendship and the way life treats people and how that changes over 20 years. Everyone involved is clearly doing it because they care, so we have to assume that they will continue to care and care for 10 years, 15, 16, 17 more years. You judge people by that.

Before choosing someone, I tell them: “You will be sentenced to life in prison. I did it in Boyhood. I asked Patricia Arquette: ‘what are you going to do in 12 years?’ She says: ‘I’ll probably be looking for a role to work on. So I said, ‘yes, and I’m going to try to make a movie, so let’s start now and we’ll be who we are now and in the future.’ That’s all it was. It’s not a big leap of faith.».

What Merrily We Roll Along is about

Merrily We Roll Along follows Franklin Shepard, a talented Broadway composer who abandons his New York theater career and all his friends to produce films in Los Angeles.

The cast for now is made up of Paul Mescal, Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein.