Richard Linklater has found it tough to make Merrily We Roll Along discreetly.
Richard Linklater is working on another years-long project
The 66-year-old director has been working on the movie adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along, the upcoming film inspired by George Furth’s book, for years – but Richard admits that it’s been difficult to be discreet about the project compared to 2014’s Boyhood.
The director – who shot Boyhood over a 12-year period – said at the Zurich Film Festival: “When I was doing Boyhood, we worked in complete anonymity. No one knew about the film.
“This one, on the other hand, because it’s a Stephen Sondheim musical and it’s very public, I have to answer this question for 20 years while we’re making it.
“But my progress report is it’s [shooting] nine sections in 20 years. And in a few months, we’re filming the fourth section. So see you in 2040.”
Richard also played down suggestions that he’s tempting fate by embarking on another years-long shoot.
He said: “It worked on Boyhood … and that’s just the way the film should be made and that’s the only way to tell the story. And people were like, ‘Well, what if someone died?’
“There’s always an extreme thing that would prevent it from being made. But I was like, ‘Well, that usually doesn’t happen,’ and you gotta believe in collaborating with the future of some kind.
“So definitely got lucky [with Boyhood] and hoping to get lucky this time. But it’s been so fun so far.
“It’s very different. I have music already — it’s a great score. We’re adapting it step-by-step. I’ve always made music films. … But it’s fun to be making a full-on musical. But it’s about friendship, long-term.”
Meanwhile, Richard previously admitted to feeling inspired by American Graffiti, the 1973 comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, and the James Bond film franchise.
The acclaimed director – who was born in Texas – told the Big Issue: “Films to me were just these fun things. I lived in a place with one theatre. We were in a small town, so the big films you heard about came to our town two months later.
“But my dad lived in the big city. So I would go there on weekends and come back and tell all my friends, hey, I saw American Graffiti or the new James Bond film and they’d be like, huh? Then it would play in our small town months later.
“So I was ahead of the game because I had a big city element in me.”