IFC Films
Just because Boyhood didn’t win Best Picture last night doesn’t mean its Oscar hopes are over. Remember, The Lord of the Rings didn’t win Best Picture on its first try, either, but after two sequels, Peter Jackson’s series received the honor. Maybe we just need to wait for Boyhood 3? Of course, given the way the first one was shot, it would probably take a quarter of a century to see that happen.
Or maybe not. Director Richard Linklater is considering the idea of a Boyhood sequel, though he admits, “it wouldn’t have to be twelve years … This one would probably be more accelerated, but who knows.” The quote comes from a conversation Linklater had on the podcast Jeff Goldsmith’s Q&A [via ScreenCrush]. He says the 12-year structure had a lot to do with the idea of school and documenting first grade through high school.
He had initially been against the idea of a Boyhood 2, believing there wasn’t more to say. However, just recently he’s been contemplating what it would entail. “The 20s are pretty formative, you know?” he proposed. “That’s where you really do become who you’re going to be. It’s one thing to grow up and go to college, but it’s another thing… So, I will admit my mind has drifted towards [this sequel idea].”
The thing is, he’s about to release a movie that’s about that very idea. And it’s a sequel. That’s What I’m Talking About, which is due this year, is a follow-up to Dazed and Confused involving college baseball players in the 1980s. Considering the high school section of Boyhood has some scenes very reminiscent of scenes in Dazed (understandably, as both are autobiographical), I imagine Boyhood 2 would also overlap with Dazed 2.
Linklater is apparently just suffering from sequelitis, contracted by Qs like Goldsmith’s. The filmmaker may have had great acclaim with his Before trilogy ‐ it’s not often that a threequel is at the top of so may critics’ best-of lists the way Before Midnight was ‐ and now it’s become customary for journalists to inquire about his other movies also getting follow-ups. In addition to Dazed, we’ve heard of potential sequels to School of Rock and Bernie.
Interestingly, though, nobody ever asks when he’s going to make Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and Bad News Bears Go to Japan.