Where Dreaming Is Believing . . .
Now playing in select theaters, Hitchcock/Truffaut centers on the making of one of the most popular books on cinema. Along with culling audio from the actual conversations between filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut, director Kent Jones talks to directors Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Wes Anderson, and Richard Linklater (among others) about Hitchcock’s (and the book’s) influence on their careers.
Continue reading “Exclusive: Director Kent Jones Talks ‘Hitchcock/Truffaut’”
Previous honorees include directors Quentin Tarantino, Danny Boyle, Tom Hooper, and Michel Hazanavicius. Mary Hart will host the Awards Gala on Saturday, January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The PSIFF runs January 2-12.
Boyhood, which Linklater shot over 12 years with actors Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and newcomer Ellar Coltrane, centers on a youth’s (Coltrane) turbulent yet gradually revelatory childhood.
Linklater who has received Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nominations for Before Sunset and Before Midnight, also directed Tape, School of Rock, Waking Life, Slacker, and Dazed and Confused. Along with his filmmaking career, Linklater is also the Artistic Director for the Austin Film Society, which he founded back in 1985.
For more info on the fest, please call 760-322-2930 or 800-898-7526. PSIFF’s official site is: www.psfilmfest.org.
Directed by Vincente Minelli, Some Came Running stars Frank Sinatra as a disillusioned World War II vet who comes home, only to find the road turning in the wrong direction. In a 2010 interview with “The Guardian,” Linklater expressed his sincere love for the film, which he describes as a “wonderful drama.” “It’s a Sinatra vehicle but I love it because it’s about an artist who’s flopped,” said Linklater, who also directed Before Midnight and Waking Life. “And that’s hard to depict.” Some Came Running also stars Dean Martin and Shirley Maclaine (she worked with Linklater on the flick Bernie).
After Some Came Running, TCM viewers will then be treated to Linklater’s two other recommendations – The Asphalt Jungle (10:30 pm et) and Fanny and Alexander (12:45 a.m.)
During the Boyhood interviews, I asked Richard Linklater if there will be a director’s cut to his film. His answer (Boyhood co-star Patricia Arquette is also heard in the clip) is below:
For more information on the upcoming Boyhood Criterion release, check out this informative article by Slash Film.
“I would like to think I’m a better actor now,” said Hawke who referenced his work in Joe Dante’s feature Explorers in his response. “But I’m just dealing with the hand that I have now. I’m not a better actor now – I wish I was. It’s a nice idea.”
Check out the audio clip below as Ethan Hawke talks about the difference between acting in film and on stage – and he also explains why he really doesn’t feel that he’s a “better actor” at this moment. Boyhood co-star Patricia Arquette also chimes in on the answer, as she explains the joy and challenge of working with young actors Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater.
Boyhood is now playing in select theaters, and if you’re a fan of Richard Linklater’s previous work (Before Midnight, Slacker, Waking Life), then this film should be up your alley.
Boyhood centers on a boy named Mason (Ellar Coltrane) as he navigates his way through the pains and joys of childhood to eventually become an introspective and insightful teenager. His path is met with its share of heartache, which includes witnessing the failed relationships of his mom (Patricia Arquette) and the Peter Pan complex ridden behavior of his well intentioned dad (Ethan Hawke). Lorelei Linkater, the director’s daughter, plays Mason’s sister Samantha. Clocking in at 164 minutes, Linklater
During Boyhood’s press conference, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater talk about how a bit of luck and good timing aided the production. During one year, Hawke had to catch a plane right after shooting a bowling sequence in Boyhood, and if he missed the flight it would have led to horrible repercussions for another project he was working on.
For Linklater, he was more than thankful when he a Jason Lane homer (while Lane was with the Houston Astros) made it into Boyhood. That father and son baseball bonding moment was turned into a truly exciting turn of events thanks to that fortuitous Astros dinger.
“The biggest luck of all, in a lot of ways, was Lorelei and Ellar,” said Hawke. “Their contribution – we could have never predicted.”
Click on the media bar below to hear Linklater and Ethan Hawke talk about the “film gods” that blessed Boyhood (Arquette is also heard in the clip) .
Clocking in at 160 minutes, “Boyhood” gives us a peek into the life of Mason (Ellar Coltrane), the son of divorced parents (Hawke and Patricia Arquette). As the trailer suggests, we see Mason (and Coltrane)grow before our very eyes. Although it’s a one shot film and “Before” may be ongoing series, both narratives deal with our relationship to aging.
My favorite Jackson Browne album moniker is “Time the Conqueror,” and such a concept may be applied to Linklater’s work. For better and worse, the years do have an affect on our collective spirits, and it’s what we do with that time that truly matters.
Humanity’s ever expanding scope and reach serves as Richard Linklater’s creative canvas, and don’t expect the director to work with anything less, even if his films don’t pack ’em in like some bloated, nonsensical, summer blockbuster.
“We do have this small audience in mind when we get to a crossroads and we think, ‘Oh well, cinema, storytelling language says if this plus this equals an unlikable character then you just don’t do it,'” said Linklater during the ‘Before Midnight’ interviews. “We think, ‘well that’s a construct, that’s not really real. It’s the narrative, storytelling bubble (that) cinema exists in.'”
Click on the media bar below to hear Linklater explain why movie lovers play an important part in the creative drive behind “Before Midnight,” and it’s a conversation that I’m sure can be applied to the aesthetics behind “Boyhood.”
“Boyhood” opens July 11.
Linklater, who also produced the film, won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival. The project clocks in at 164 minutes, and if the movie is half as good as this sterling IndieWire assessment, then we may be in for a good one. After all, Linklater’s continued link to our youthful desires and drives (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, The Waking Life, the Before films, Me and Orson Welles) originate from a completely inspired place, and one assumes Boyhood could be his crowning achievement.
In the clip below, Julie Delpy talks about what makes Richard Linklater such a unique filmmaker (her comments are in relation to Before Midnight’s opening sequence):
Delpy received a Golden Globe nod for her work in Before Midnight. The actress, Linklater, and Hawke also garnered Oscar nods back in 2005 for Best Adapted Screenplay (Before Sunset).
“This trilogy creates one of the most authentic portrayals of love on the screen,” says SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. “And it’s an undeniable gift to be able to experience all three movies in one day as well as to host its three talented creators.”
For more info on the SBIFF, which runs January 30-February 9th, check out www.sbfilmfestival.org.