The possibility for disaster was high when Richard Linklater embarked on his experiment of filming Boyhood in 2002. The film was shot over the course of twelve years using the same actor to tell the story of Mason, who we see progress from age six to eighteen, and the people who come in and out of his life during that time period.
My respect and admiration for Linklater’s commitment to a project of such enormous scope is hard to overstate. When he chose child actor Ellar Coltrane to carry what would become a three hour study of a child coming of age in America, he had no idea what he would get as the years passed, and Coltrane’s talents could either grow or stagnate. This risk was compounded when Linklater cast his own young daughter in the pivotal role of Mason’s older sister, Samantha.