Boyhood is a 2014 American epic coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke. Filmed from 2002 to 2014, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans Jr. (Coltrane) from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents (Arquette and Hawke). Richard Linklater's daughter Lorelei plays Mason's sister, Samantha.

Production began in 2002 and finished in 2013, with Linklater's goal to make a film about growing up. The project began without a completed script, with only basic plot points and the ending written initially. Linklater developed the script throughout production, writing the next year's portion of the film after rewatching the previous year's footage. He incorporated changes he saw in each actor into the script, allowing all major actors to participate in the writing process by incorporating their life experiences into their characters' stories.

Boyhood premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically by IFC Films on July 11, 2014 in the United States, with Universal Pictures releasing in other territories. The film competed in the main competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, where Linklater won the Silver Bear for Best Director. It received universal acclaim for its performances, Linklater's screenplay and direction, and subject matter. It was also nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Arquette; five BAFTA awards, winning for Best Director and Best Film; and six Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actress for Arquette. Since its release, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. On Metacritic, it is the most recent film to have a score of 100 out of 100 and is the best-reviewed film released in the 21st century thus far.

Plot

In 2002, 6-year-old Mason Evans lives with his divorced mother, Olivia, and 8-year-old sister, Samantha, in a small town in Texas. Mason overhears Olivia arguing with her boyfriend, saying she has no free time due to parenting. In 2003, Olivia and the children move to Houston so she can attend the University of Houston to get a better job.

Mason's father, Mason Sr., visits Houston in 2004 and takes Mason and Samantha bowling. When he drops the children off at home, he argues with Olivia while the kids watch from a window. Olivia takes Mason to one of her classes, and introduces him to her professor, Bill Welbrock; Mason sees them flirt.

In 2005, Olivia and Bill have married and blended their two families. They share experiences such as playing video games and attending a midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Mason and Samantha are enrolled in the same school as their step-siblings, Mindy and Randy. There, Mason befriends Nicole, who has a crush on him.

In 2006, Mason and Samantha bond with their father as he takes them out for a day in Houston, culminating in a Houston Astros game and a sleepover at his house. Olivia continues her education and is initially supportive of Bill's strict parenting style, which includes many chores for the children and an enforced shaving of Mason's long hair.

In 2007, Bill gradually becomes abusive and violent towards Olivia and the children due to his alcoholism. After he assaults Olivia, she moves out with Mason and Samantha to a friend's house and files for divorce. Her step children stay with their father, since Olivia is unable to locate their biological mother.

In 2008, when Mason Sr. learns that Samantha has a boyfriend, he talks to her and Mason about contraception. He also has them assist him in volunteering for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, to mixed results from the suburban Texas residents. Then on a camping trip with his son, they connect through music, film, and Mason's blossoming interest in girls. The teens have grown into their lives in San Marcos, a town close to Austin.

In 2009, Mason is bullied at school and playfully teased on a camping trip, but starts receiving attention from girls. Olivia takes a position teaching psychology at college and moves in with Jim, a student and Iraq War veteran.

In 2010, Mason is now in high school and experiments with marijuana and alcohol. Mason Sr., who has remarried and has a baby, has become more religious and takes his kids to visit his wife's parents. For Mason's 15th birthday, Mason Sr. gives him a suit and CDs; Mason's step-grandparents give him a Bible and a shotgun.

In 2011, Mason is lectured by his photography teacher, who sees his potential but is disappointed by his lack of ambition. He later attends a party and meets Sheena, who becomes his girlfriend. After Mason arrives home late one night from a party, a drunk Jim confronts him about his late hours and effeminate style. Olivia and Jim subsequently break up, and the family's financial situation worsens.

In 2012, Mason has his own truck, works part-time as a busser, and is slated for a promotion as a fry cook. Mason and Sheena visit Samantha, who is attending the University of Texas at Austin, where they share their hopes and fears about college. They have sex, and Samantha's roommate discovers them asleep together in her dorm bed.

In 2013, towards the end of Mason's senior year in high school, he has a painful breakup with Sheena, wins the second-place silver medal in a state photography contest, and is awarded college scholarship money. His family throws him a graduation party and toasts his success. Mason Sr. gives him advice about his breakup. Planning to sell the house and downsize, Olivia meets Samantha and Mason for lunch and asks them to sort through their possessions. Later that year, as Mason prepares to leave for college, Olivia breaks down, disillusioned by how quickly life has passed. At Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Mason moves into his dorm and meets his new roommate Dalton, Dalton's girlfriend Barb, and Barb's roommate, Nicole. Mason is given an edible by Barb, and the group goes hiking at Big Bend Ranch State Park. Nicole shares with Mason her belief that, rather than people seizing moments, moments seize people; Mason agrees.

Cast

Production

Development In May 2002, Richard Linklater said that he would begin shooting an untitled film in his home city of Houston that summer.Blackburn, Rachel. (May 16, 2002) PA News Shooting begins on film that will take 12 years. He planned to assemble the cast and crew for a few weeks' filming annually for 12 years. He said: "I've long wanted to tell the story of a parent–child relationship that follows a boy from the first through the 12th grade and ends with him going off to college. But the dilemma is that kids change so much that it is impossible to cover that much ground. And I am totally ready to adapt the story to whatever he is going through."

The origin of Boyhood was me being frustrated with what I felt was the limited canvas of making a film about a kid. Most of the great childhood movies are really about a specific moment, a specific summer, a specific three days. I was interested in the growing up part — all of it. I was thinking more like a novelist. I wanted to bite off a much bigger chunk of development, and you can’t really do that on film unless you skip a lot of years and cast someone else.

IFC, the film's distributor, committed to a film budget of US$200,000 per year, or $2.4 million over the 12-year shooting period. According to Linklater, Jonathan Sehring of IFC would tell him "You’re our only production. We’re in production on one film. Better be good."

Casting After an open casting call with several call backs, Linklater hired the six-year-old Ellar Coltrane to play the boy. The cast could not sign contracts for the film due to the De Havilland Law, which makes it illegal to contract someone for more than seven years of work. Linklater told Ethan Hawke that he would have to finish the film if Linklater died.

Filming and writing

Boyhood began filming without a completed script. Linklater had prepared each character's basic plot points, and the ending—including the final shot—but otherwise wrote the script for the next year's filming after rewatching the previous year's footage, incorporating the changes he saw in each actor. All major actors participated in the writing process, contributing their life experiences; for example, Hawke's character is based on his and Linklater's fathers—both Texan insurance agents who divorced and remarried—and Arquette's character is based on her mother, who resumed her education later in life and became a psychotherapist.

Despite the unconventional screenwriting process, Linklater stated that he had a general storyline in mind, and that the actors did not change the general direction of the story:

People think I asked Ellar, "What did you do in school the other day? Let's make a scene about that!" That never happened. The time we spent together was me just gauging where he was at in his life—what his concerns were and what he was doing. Then I would think, maybe we could move the camping trip up, and we can do this or that.

Scripts for certain scenes were sometimes finished the night prior to shooting. According to Hawke, the discussion about the possibility of additional Star Wars films is "the only honest-to-god improvised moment in the movie". The cast and crew gathered once or twice each year, on varying dates, to film for three or four days. The production team spent approximately two months in pre-production, and one month in post-production each year.

Hawke said in 2013:

Although Linklater had referred to the project as Boyhood during the early years of production, in 2013 he settled on the title 12 Years, but was forced to rename it due to the release of 12 Years a Slave the year prior. In consideration of the possibility that the actors' circumstances or availability might change over the extended period of production, Linklater had also observed that the film potentially could also have been named Motherhood, Fatherhood, etc. Hawke was amazed that the producers "still had their job" at the film's completion, despite "(having) to hide a couple hundred thousand dollars a year for over a decade while we slowly made this movie". Despite the risks, Linklater was allowed an unusual level of freedom with the production, never having to show IFC the work as it progressed.

Costume designer Kari Perkins had to review each year's footage to ensure there were no accidental repetitions and to create a "flow" to the costumes.

When discussing shooting format in an interview, Linklater discussed how insistent he was on shooting 35 mm film:

We very intentionally shot in the same way throughout, just to get a unified look. 35mm negative is about the most stable thing you could shoot on. We kinda had that from the beginning. I remember it not even being a question. You know the HD formats, I didn't really like them very much at all. I'm just not warming up to them. But they change a lot. The film would have six different looks if we tried to keep up.

Distribution

IFC Films held domestic rights to the film, with Mongrel Media distributing the film in Canada. Universal Pictures acquired international distribution of the film in all other countries except for France and the Benelux. This film was part of Peter Kujawski's efforts to distribute Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty and Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street outside the United States.

Music

Reception

Box office