Boyhood (2014)
Trivia
- Ellar Coltrane, who plays the boy of the title, was 7 years old when the movie started filming and 18 when it finished.
- Richard Linklater cast his daughter Lorelei Linklater as Samantha because she was always singing and dancing around the house and wanted to be in his movies. At about the third or fourth year of filming, she lost interest and asked for her character to be killed off. Linklater refused, saying it was too violent for what he was planning (Lorelei eventually regained her enthusiasm and continued with the project).
- Shooting began in the summer of 2002 and ended in the fall of 2013.
- Had Richard Linklater died during the 12-year shoot, Ethan Hawke would have taken over the directorial duties.
- Richard Linklater and his crew got together annually to film Linklater's script about a boy who will eventually grow up into a college freshman. Linklater's method behind production was essentially to make several 10 to 15-minute short films over the course of 12 years, each depicting a year in the life of the boy, and then edit them together as a feature film.
- The film began production as The Untitled 12 Year Project and then became titled 12 Years. When the film was finished, Richard Linklater changed the title to Boyhood, to avoid confusion with the similarly-titled, Academy Award-winning 12 Years a Slave (2013).
- As it is illegal in the US to sign contracts lasting longer than 7 years, nobody could sign a contract for their 12 year commitment.
- The guitar-playing street performer is Ellar Coltrane's real father, Bruce Salmon. He is a musician based in Austin, TX, where his cameo scene is set.
- Lorelei Linklater is only three months older than her on-screen brother Ellar Coltrane. Richard Linklater jokes that he didn't so much cast her in the movie, as give in when she insisted on playing the part after hearing about the project.
- In the campfire scene, the movie showed Dad and Mason talk about the possibility of another Star Wars movie. The campfire scene and the previously shown Obama/Biden campaign scene showed Mason at the same age. While most of this movie is shot during live events, it is safe to assume that the campfire scene is also shot on the same time frame as the real Obama/Biden campaign in 2008. On the other hand, the real plans for Star Wars Episode VII (2015) was first conceived after the acquisition of Lucasfilms by Disney in 2012. Thus it may be viewed that this movie's script in 2008 has predicted the 2012 initial plans. Also this movie was released in the same year Star Wars Episode VII starts filming.
- The baseball game that Dad brings Mason and Samantha to was a real Brewers / Astros contest, held on August 18, 2005. The Astros' Jason Lane actually did hit a home run down the left field line (precisely where the camera was pointing) during the only inning, the 2nd, that the crew shot on-field action. However, in the film, Mason reports afterwards that the Astros "won it on Lane's three-run homer," while in reality, it was a solo home run, and the Astros lost when Roger Clemens gave up four runs in the seventh inning.
- In the scene when the Dad takes Mason to a band practice after his graduation, a poster behind on the wall reads the name of one of the producers of the film- "Cat Sutherland".
The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
Background
The Battered Bastards of Baseball is a 2014 documentary film about the Portland Mavericks, a defunct Minor League Baseball team which operated from 1973 through 1977. Owned by actor Bing Russell, the Mavericks were independent of Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, despite competing in a league of teams with MLB affiliates.The film was directed by Chapman Way and Maclain Way, grandsons of Russell.
The film features Russell's son Kurt Russell, who played for the Mavericks and worked as a vice president. The film also features Todd Field, who was a batboy for the Mavericks, Frank “The Flake” Peters, Joe Garza, Jim Bouton, and Joe Garagiola.
The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014. The film premiered on Netflix on July 11, 2014.
Justin Lin acquired the rights to adapt the documentary to a feature film, with Field as its director.
Other Movies of Note
Orgazmo (1997)Guardian (2014)
A Most Wanted Man (2014)
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
The Book of Mormon (Broadway Show)
Votes on Last Month's Movies
- Life Itself: 2.8
- For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism: 2.1
