Linklater chose to shoot on 35mm film, reasoning correctly that digital technology would advance over those 12 years while celluloid would remain the same. “Towards the end of production, it became harder and harder to shoot on 35mm,” he says in the press notes, “but it helped give us that seamless flow.”

Was Boyhood really shot in 12 years?

Ellar Coltrane, who plays Mason in the new movie Boyhood, was 6 years old when director Richard Linklater picked him for the role. ... The film takes place over the course of 12 years, and it was shot over the course of 12 years.

Was Boyhood a true story?

It is so real and so true, but we don't see that woman in movies.” ... While working on the project, Linklater spoke at length with Coltrane and weaved into “Boyhood” elements from his life and those of his parents in the film, Hawke and Arquette.