9.15pm, Friday, RTÉ 2 Boyhood (2014)

“I just feel like there are so many things that I could be doing and probably want to be doing that I’m just not”

In a business where formula and franchise are celebrated, it’s not easy for lm-makers to nd an original way to tell a story. Richard Linklater managed it with Boyhood. Taking a leaf from Michael Apted’s seminal TV series, Up, Linklater’s remarkable drama chronicles the fortunes of a Texas family through the eyes of one boy (Ellar Coltrane) as he moves from childhood to adulthood. So far, so unremarkable, but here’s the thing: where other directors would have used di erent actors at di erent stages of the youngster’s transition from boy to man, Linklater chose only seven-year-old Ellar Coltrane. He proceeded to shoot the movie over the course of 12 years, taking the youngster into his own college years. The director also cast his own daughter, Lorelei, to play Ellar’s sister, much to the annoyance of the young girl who lost interest in the project very quickly and begged her father to “kill her o .” Though the movie took 12 years to complete, Linklater only shot for 45 days, reassembling his cast when time and schedules and permitted. ( The movie was originally titled 12 Years, but changed when 12 Years a Slave was released).

In the role of the parents, Linklater chose his regular collaborator Ethan Hawke to play the father, while Patricia Arquette took on the role of the mother (apparently the director pleaded with the actress not to have plastic surgery during the period of the lm shoot). Arquette’s commitment to the project was rewarded with a well deserved Oscar, BAFTA, SAG and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Boyhood was nominated for a total of six Oscars, including Best Movie, Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Hawke).