With the franchise-hungry Hollywood machine demanding more sequels, the '2' key is one of the most well-worn on studio execs' keyboards. Occasionally, though, comes a film that lends itself so naturally to a second instalment that we almost want to wish it into existence. Considering the unique demands it placed on its cast and creator, **Boyhood **may well not turn out to be that film, but when **Empire **met Richard Linklater recently, he definitely didn't rule it out.
"There is kind of this parallel world we’ve created through these fictional characters," he reflected on the potential for a Boyhood 2 (Manhood, perhaps?). "So you never know, you never know. The twenties are interesting though. There are lots of unrepresented areas of development you go through. If you think about cinema representation, you know usually it’s like maybe college, you get a degree, and then it’s always like you’re right into marriage, kids — and the twenties can be this netherworld of still figuring out who the hell you are. So maybe there’s something there. But I don’t know. Way too soon. *Way *too soon!"
Of course, with a cast partly made up of non-professional actors, including Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater, and Linklater himself wrapped up with college comedy That’s What I’m Talking About and a myriad of Oscar functions, the very notion of another multi-year commitment seems far-fetched. But... but... if life teaches one thing - apart from the thing about not giving us bumpers - it's that you don't rule anything out. "No, you don’t," agrees Linklater, "because [Boyhood] is so close to life".
He applies to the same answers to the idea of a fourth instalment of the **Before **story. "You know, if I’ve learned anything from the Before trilogy, it’s that you never know. And b), it’s too soon. I mean, those films, I go five years, Ethan (Hawke), Julie (Delpy) and I go five years just recovering from the last one, what it takes to do those, before we realise that Jesse and Celine are at a new phase of life. And I don’t know, it could be the same with these family members, you know? It’s hard to say."
Boyhood is out on DVD and Blu-ray on January 19.