By his own admission, Austin-based filmmaker Richard Linklater is always working on something. In fact, in his own words in a new Interview piece, he says, “I’m always working on a few things, so I don’t really know. Doesn’t matter if they’re secret; no one cares.” That last part is certainly not true, but the “secret he is referring to is something involving actor Ethan Hawke, who is essentially Linklater’s De Niro. The context is an Interview conversation with filmmaker Gregg Araki, as the two discuss the latter’s 4K restorations of the cult classics “Nowhere” and “Doom Generation.”
In the conversation, Arraki says, “You and Ethan [Hawke] were working on your thing last week, your secret thing?” Linklater says yes, they were. Araki says, sorry, am I blowing up your spot? And Linklater responds with the quote above, suggesting no one cares.
Okay, start speculating. A new ‘Before’ trilogy film, expanding it to a quadrilogy (though the real term is tetralogy)? Now, “Before Midnight” was essentially shot in secret, but it’s possible (and seemingly more likely) that Hawke is involved in “Merrily We Roll Along,” an adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. Currently, it stars Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein, and Ben Platt, and famously, Linklater says he will take 20 years to shoot the film. No, really, and he did spend 12 years shooting “Boyhood”— it probably stands to reason someone like Ethan Hawke could and arguably should show up in it at some point.
“Merrily We Roll Along” centers on a talented Broadway composer, Franklin Shepard, who abandons his friends and career to become a Hollywood producer, told over the course of 20 years in reverse chronological order.
Now, we’re just speculating too, but if “Boyhood” is any indication—a movie that Linklater would shoot a few weeks of every year for 12 years— it seems to stand to reason this is likely what he is shooting, but hey, we could be wrong and go forth and assume it’s another ‘Before’ film if you like.
Linklater, in the conversation with Araki, also revealed that he’s hoping to shoot a film in Paris, in the mode of a French New Wave film starring French actors and possibly all in French.
Here’s the exchange between him and Araki.
ARAKI: I saw Ruby Rich last night. She did the Q&A for our Nowhere screening at IFC Center. And she was saying that you’re shooting something in Paris?
LINKLATER: Oh, not yet. I’m hoping to make a film over there.
ARAKI: That’s fucking fantastic.
LINKLATER: Yeah, in French. It’s like a New Wave film.
ARAKI: Do you have French actors and stuff?
LINKLATER: I hope to.
File under, maybe, sometime in the future? Linklater is currently coming off his biggest hit—at least on the festival circuit in years. His action comedy “Hit Man” starring Glenn Powell, which was bought by Netflix for $20 million earlier this year.