Richard Linklater has always been a filmmaker that makes wild thematic jumps from movie to movie, trying his hand at everything he possibly can. Whether it’s the experimental animation of A Scanner Darkly, the romantic dramas of Before Sunrise/Sunset, or mainstream comedies like School of Rock and Bad News Bears, he’s much like Steven Soderbergh – you don’t really have a grasp on what he’ll be making next.

Not a lot of people know that he’s been working on a film since the summer of 2002, which has the working title of Boyhood. The concept behind its creation may be one of the most fascinating I’ve ever heard for a movie: Following a divorced couple who try to raise their child, small segments are shot every summer over the course of twelve years, chronicling the boy’s life from first grade to the start of college. We’ve seen something like this done before in Michael Apted‘s Up series, but what makes this unique is that it’s a narrative feature. Plus, this has had footage shot each year, as opposed to that documentary doing it every seven years.

Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play the parents, while newcomer Ellar Salmon is playing the central character. Not much has emerged on the whole thing since it began shooting about nine years ago, but its release is only a few years away. Speaking to IndieWIRE at last night’s LAFF premiere of his next film, Bernie, the director said that he still has “three years left on it.” It’s a long time to wait for any movie, but people pining to check it out can take some comfort in knowing that it’s not far from getting into theaters, at least when compared to the start date of its production. I’m extremely curious to see just what he’s concocted here, and I think there’s a decent chance that an amazing film will come out of all of this.

He also said some things about a sequel to Dazed and Confused, as ThePlaylist caught up with him, where some new information came to light. An interesting analogy was given by the filmmaker himself, saying that if the original was his high school, the sequel will be his college. Past news has described it as being set at the first weekend at college, which sounds like it could fit in with the original’s tone and setting — there’s plenty of room for the same kind of humor and situations, at least. What’s interesting is that it won’t have any of the same characters from the fist, which makes it sound more like a spiritual sequel than anything else.

I don’t know when he’ll get around to making it, but he seems to be able to work at a pretty quick rate. This could very well be one of his top priorities, for all we know. In the meantime, Bernie should be getting a release later this year, so those who want to see more Linklater don’t have to worry about a long wait for something else from the Texas filmmaker.

Does Boyhood sound like something you would be interested in seeing? Do you think a sequel to Dazed and Confused could be good?