Richard Linklater is open to upcoming childhood: ‘We could jump to 30 or something’

It has been nine years since Richard Linklater’s presentation Childhood, his most ambitious film ever. After emerging as a key voice in the 1990s independent film movement, Linklater specialized in providing snapshots of life in specific time periods, from the 1970s throwback to disoriented and confusedto the beloved optimism of the 90s Before sunriseto the reverie of 1969 which was the last year Apollo 10 1/2: A Childhood in the Space Age. But none of his films have achieved this thematic concern like Childhood – shot progressively over 12 years, from 2002 to 2013, each time bringing together the same cast (Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke, mostly) to tell a coming-of-age story like no other.

In a major new interview with Empireon the occasion of the release of the new Arrow video by Childhood, Linklater reflected on the legacy of his epic tale of young life a decade after filming stopped, and while there are still no plans to continue the story writer-director Mason Jr. opened up the possibility of the character returning to the line . . . “There were things we could have done, but it wasn’t understood,” he says. Empire. “For all we know, we could get to 30 or something like that. Who the hell knows? As he himself points out, Childhood ends when Mason reaches college: part of life explored in other Linklater films. “I know what happened next; in fact she’s in a lot of movies I’ve done [about] college life… Before sunriseOR Everyone wants it!!. This movie starts with a boy going to college.

Even if Linklater hasn’t revisited Childhood since it hit the big screen, he remembers the project fondly. “Breathe again for me,” he says. “He hasn’t calcified in a while. I mean, it’s a document from 2002 to 2013, but it was never about that. My goal there, probably my biggest project in this world, was to show, in a fun and hopefully visible way, what life was like, you know? What it was like to be a human being at all times. He hopes to see the film again around its 12th anniversary (the number of years it took to shoot in the first place). “Give it a few more years and then I’ll look at it again, see how it resonates in my head,” he says. “But it was such a good experience and we accomplished what we set out to do. So you leave it there and you feel good. For a movie about growing up, this is a movie that stays forever young.

Light EmpireFull interview with Richard Linklater – speaking Childhoodin the mid-2000s, his photographic approach to cinema and many other films of his mind-blowing career, in the guardians of the galaxy vol 3 number, on sale Thursday 13 April. become a Empire member now to access the full issue on the day of release, or order number online now here. Childhood is now available on 4K Blu-ray.