Summary

• Boyhood was shot over 12 years, with individual scenes filmed annually for a unique storytelling approach.
• The cast, including Lorelei Linklater, impacted the story's direction, offering real-life experiences.
• Despite a legal limit of 7 years, actors returned yearly based on honor system for production continuity.

The Boyhood movie production is one of the most unique approaches that made for a more engrossing movie. Director Richard Linklater had already made a name for himself with movies like Dazed and Confused and Before Sunrise when he started production on Boyhood, but he had an ambitious approach that most people would not find out about until decades later. The coming-of-age movie follows a young boy named Mason from the age of six years old to 17 years old as he grows up.

Starring Ellar Coltrane as Mason, Linklakter's Boyhood tells a very simple story that explores the reality of growing up. The audience experiences the highs and lows of Mason's young life, including an abusive stepfather, getting bullied at school, making new friends, and meeting a girl. While all of that is familiar in a coming-of-age story, Boyhood sets itself apart with a groundbreaking and brilliant approach to telling the story. It invests the audience in Mason's story in a much more intimate way and makes for one of the most interesting behind-the-scenes filmmaking stories.

10 Boyhood Was Shot Over 12 Years

Boyhood Shot For Several Days Each Year

While there are many movies that trace decades in the life of a character, like Forrest Gump or Citizen Kane. However, Boyhood took a very unique filmmaking approach to telling such a story. The production of Boyhood lasted 12 years, from May 2002 to August 2013. Although these 12 years comprised of roughly 4,000 days, the Boyhood team only shot for a total of 45 days. This is a pretty normal amount of time for a feature film shoot, but it’s usually not spread over more than a decade.

Ellar Coltrane, the lead actor, was seven years old when filming began and 19 years old when it was completed. When shooting started, Richard Linklater was calling the movie The Untitled 12 Year Project. Then, it went by 12 Years. Eventually, Linklater changed the title to Boyhood to avoid confusion with another acclaimed Oscar film, 12 Years a Slave.

9 Samantha Is Played By Richard Linklater’s Daughter

Lorelei Linklater Also Wanted Her Character Killed Off

Mason’s older sister, Samantha, was played by Lorelei Linklater, the daughter of director Richard Linklater because she’d been pestering him to put her in one of his movies for years. It is also likely that the director saw this as a benefit to the long production schedule of the movie as he would have an actor in the main cast who was close to him and could ensure they stayed investing in the project for over a decade. Unfortunately, that proved not to be the case.

After three or four years of shooting, Lorelei got sick of the commitment to Boyhood and asked her dad to kill off her character. He refused to do that because it would be way too dark and violent for this movie. During the remaining eight or nine years of production, she eventually enjoyed shooting Boyhood again.

8 The Studio Gave Richard Linklater The Budget Little By Little Across The 12-Year Shoot

The $2.4 Million Budget Could Not Be Paid Upfront

While the small little movie ended up being a surprise box office hit, dealing with the budgeting for the movie ended up being a complicated process. The budget for Boyhood was $2.4 million, but IFC Films couldn’t legally give it all to Richard Linklater upfront because it would technically contract him to 12 years of work, which is prohibited. So, they gave him $200,000 a year to shoot the new scenes (via Variety).

Boyhood ended up grossing over $57 million worldwide when it finally hit theaters

One year, they forgot to give Linklater the money, and by the time they realized the mistake, it was too late to pay up, because they’d closed their books for the year. Linklater was able to fund that year’s filming himself with insurance money he’d received from his house burning down. Boyhood ended up grossing over $57 million worldwide when it finally hit theaters (via Box Office Mojo).

7 Mason, Sr. Was Based On Richard Linklater And Ethan Hawke’s Own Fathers

Various Actors Drew From Eal Experiences