Ellar Coltrane

It's no surprise that Richard Linklater's movie Boyhood was this week installed as the favorite to win Best Picture at the Oscars next year. Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, the movie is ground-breaking cinema and the critics are absolutely unanimous in their praise.

Co-stars Ellar Coltrane [L] and Lorelei Linklater [R] in 'Boyhood'

Boyhood stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as the parents of Mason, a child played by the stellar Ellar Coltrane, who grows up before our eyes. It's a stunning time-capsule of a movie that charts the rocky terrain of childhood through road trips, family dinners, birthdays and graduation.

Continue reading: 'Boyhood' Has 99% On Rotten Tomatoes. It Is Almost The Perfect Movie

It’s July 21 and we’re already speculating about Boyhood’s chances at 2015’s Oscars ceremony. But it’s not often a film takes 12 years to film, giving audiences a unique chance to see the same actors grow together on screen. And it’s often a hugely ambitious project like this actually comes together.

Ellar Coltrane in 'Boyhood'

So despite the Academy’s annual blowout being over 6 months away, UK betting company Paddy Power have installed ‘Boyhood’ as an Oscar favorite: Mason’s journey from 6-year-old - with big sister and divorced parents problems – to 18-yea-old – with college and identity problems – is currently available at 9/4. 

Continue reading: Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' Is An Early Oscars Favorite

When Ellar Coltrane was auditioning for the role of Mason as a 6-year-old, Richard Linklater was more interested in the resilience of his parents rather than the acting skills of the young protégée that would become the centrepiece for his most audacious film yet.

Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Richard Linklater at an Academy screening of 'Boyhood' - Photo: Getty 2014/Michael  Loccisano

This is because his parents would have to keep this young actor interested in the role of a lifetime, spanning 12 years and shot for only three days per year. Ellar Coltrane got the part, and as we watch Mason grow up before our very eyes, a 19-year-old actor owes a huge part of his upbringing to the process of filming ‘Boyhood’. 

Continue reading: Ellar Coltrane's Journey As Mason In Richard Linklater's Boyhood

The box office was dominated by big budget blockbusters this weekend: Dawn of The Planet of The Apes finally usurped Transformers: Age of Extinction’s dominance at the top of the pile. But the real evolution story was told in Boyhood, as Mason became a young man and Richard Linklater proved his worth as one of the most of innovative auteurs working in cinema today.

Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater star in Boyhood

Linklater’s scripted coming of age movie, shot intermittently over 12 years using the same actors (Ellar Coltrane, Lorelie Linklater, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) indulges in the familiarity of domestic life. As we see the characters grow emotionally (via Linklaters incredibly relatable and organic screenplay) and physically (via simple biology – something Linklater managed to turn into a cinematic tool) we relate to the ostensibly forgettable nuances of childhood and adulthood, culminating in an intensely watchable modern masterpiece.

Continue reading: Boyhood: The "Tremendous Risk" That Came Good At This Weekend's Box Office

Shot over 12 years, Richard Linklater's new film Boyhood is being called the best movie of the decade. Its cast members have been out talking about the experience.

Co-stars Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater in 'Boyhood'

Ethan Hawke, who plays the family's father, has made eight films with Linklater. He commented on the uniqueness of this project: "We see very dramatic portraits of terrible parents or stereotypical good parents, but you don't see them both at the same time very often: parents struggling to be good parents, failing sometimes and succeeding other times, much like our own parents and ourselves. [Linklater] thinks life is pretty dramatic and beautiful and exciting as it is. For me, that's kind of revolutionary."

Continue reading: BOYHOOD Is A Once-in-a-lifetime Classic

Boyhood is a coming-of-age film which literally follows its cast as they grown over the space of 12 years. The long filming has certainly impressed the critics but will it be as popular when it reaches our screens?

Boyhood follows Ellar Coltrane's character Mason from a child to a young adult.

Read More: Richard Linklater's Boyhood Premieres First Trailer To Show A Film 12 Years In The Making.

Continue reading: 'Boyhood' Wows Critics & Promises To Change Cinema But Will Audiences Be As Impressed?