Independent cinema pioneer Richard Linklater has brought his own unique vision to micro-budget indies like Slacker, cult classics like Dazed and Confused, and mainstream hits like School of Rock. And over the span of nearly the last twenty years, he’s made three of the quietest, most poignant and moving films you’ll ever see. Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, Before Sunrise started off the trilogy in 1995, followed by Before Sunset in 2004, and one of 2013’s very best films, Before Midnight (which arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this week) caps the trilogy in the most delightful way. Parade sat down with the director to discuss his latest film, his twelve-year project Boyhood, the possibility of a Dazed and Confused sequel, and if he’s planning something special for TV.

Was there ever a thought in your mind, after the first film twenty years ago, that you’d be making a trilogy?

No, never. Certainly not before the first film. I would say, after Ethan and Julie and I had had such a unique experience that we started joking about it, but we still never took it seriously for a long time. It ended up that way though. Something keeps drawing us back to these two characters.

Serendipity, I guess.

Yeah, every five years after we do one we realize that they’re at a new spot. They might have something to say about a new position in life. It’s happened twice now, so who knows.

It’s really refreshing to see a film about love and talking and hope and happiness and all that kind of stuff. Especially because they’ve been so well received and have made money. Does that feel like a big win?

Yeah. I guess they’ve made just enough money. [Laughs] We always joke that the first one was the lowest grossing film to ever spawn a sequel. And now we’re the lowest grossing trilogy of all time. We’re kind of proud of that. Fortunately, they do just well enough so we can get our two or three million to make the next one.

Writing and crafting Before Midnight (and really all of these films) has been a collaboration between you and Ethan [Hawke] and Julie [Delpy]. What’s that process been like for you?

We’ve done it three times now. The first one was a little different. They were sort of rewriting, with me, a script that I had written, but it was so important for their characters to give everything of themselves to the degree they did for the film to work at all. Since that first one, it’s all been about originating the new film. It’s just a wonderful collaboration. We never fight. We never argue. We put our ideas forward and if the other two like it, we build on it. If the other two don’t respond, it disappears. It’s a really fluid thing. We’re just really good friends and collaborators. We goof around a lot. We just talk and digress. But we all have to agree with every piece of material. No one forces something in the movie that the other two didn’t want. That’s just never, ever happened.

Did working that closely with them help you to become better friends in your personal lives as well?

Yeah. The artistic long-term relationships are really the best kind. They’re even more rewarding than long-term personal relationships. [Laughs] That’s because it’s all the good stuff and none of the bad. I guess there could be bad, but ours is just creative. We’re there to make something. We’re there to express ourselves and say something about what it’s like to be alive. That’s all fun. It’s been a really rewarding long-term collaboration.

I know this is probably akin to asking about your favorite child, but of the three films, which was your favorite to work on and which is your favorite film, looking back at it?

I know it’s kind of a cliché, but they all feel very wonderfully similar. I’ve loved all the locations we’ve shot at and I can’t really pick a theme over any other theme. They all feel like they’re of one piece. It was wonderful being in Vienna nineteen years ago. It was wonderful being in Paris making a movie, and Greece was just incredible.

Do you have a favorite memory, either on screen or off, from your twenty-year span making these films?

Oh, gosh. When I think of it, I really think of sitting in a room with Ethan and Julie where we’re writing and rehearsing and rewriting and just doing that creative art. The moment I always like is the moment when you say, “Cut” and life comes back.

There’s been talking about you writing this “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused for so long now. Are we ever going to see the band back together for another beer run?

I have a script actually. It’s about college, so it’s not the same cast but it’s sort of the same spirit of it. My cast is now too old. We just had a twenty-year reunion at the New York Film Festival this year.

Is Boyhood going to be ready and completed in the twelve years that you had planned?

Yeah! I just finished shooting it two weeks ago. I’m in post and driving to the editing room right now. It’s amazing. I realized that this kid [Ellar Salmon] who I met when he was six years old is now nineteen. He’s waving goodbye to me when we’re done shooting and he’s like, “I don’t remember my life where this movie wasn’t a part of it.” Amazing.

It’s unprecedented.

I think so. It does feel like a new way to tell a story that obviously isn’t practical. [Laughs]. I’m really excited about it. It’ll be out next year sometime.

Does Ellar feel like one of your own children at this point?

More like a nephew. All the good stuff. I never had to parent him the way you would your own kid, but it definitely feels close.

Were you ever worried that it wouldn’t pan out and end up unfinished?

Never. You set out to do something and that’s the project. It was difficult at times. Just the logistics of it. You get busy with other things, but each year it’s a little reunion.

Even aside from Ellar, you’ve watched Ethan and Patricia [Arquette] grow up over these twelve years. What’s that like?

The boy has an older sister too, so you see the kids (as Ethan says), “They grow up. We age.” [Laughs] I don’t know what age you hit that point, but yeah, that’s what it’s like. And that’s what the movie is about. It’s about growing up, but it’s also about parenting and fumbling through parenthood while you’re figuring it out. I don’t think you ever quit maturing in that regard.

Would you ever tackle another film in that format again?

I don’t know. I don’t really have the idea specifically, but this is a pretty interesting format. I wouldn’t be surprised if others try it.

You worked on Up to Speed in 2012, which was pretty similar to TV in a way, but you haven’t done much television besides that. Do you want to dip your toe in that water or are you sticking with films?

Maybe. We treated that as a TV show, but it’s really a little web series we did for no money. It was just a fun experiment. I don’t know. Yeah, I do have some ideas. I have some ambitious multi-hour things I would like to get a chance to do and I think TV would be the right format. I’m kind of stuck in the feature film format (and I like that format), but I do have some ideas that are so big and sprawling that they feel like five- to eight-hour stories, so TV would probably be the best format for them.

Maybe something in the same vein as Top of the Lake, where it’s almost a mini-series.

Yeah, I like that.

There’s a whole new place for stuff like that now with Netflix. I think Netflix would love to be in the Richard Linklater business.

Well, maybe they’ll get their chance. [Laughs] I haven’t heard from them lately.

Before Midnight is available on Blu-ray & DVD now.

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