Turning 40, I'd been a parent for a while,
I kind of was compelled to make a film about childhood.
It was time to express something about that.
But I couldn't find the spot.
I couldn't find that moment.
And you knew you'd got the limitation of the age of the actor
so nothing seemed worthy of a full film about one little moment.
All my ideas were spread out over all the process.
So I'd kind of given up the idea of the film, it seemed impossible.
I was about to write...some experimental novel, or something.
And then the hands go to hit the keyboard
and this idea comes fully formed.
But what if you filmed a little bit every year
and everyone...the kids grew up and the parents...
Why can't you make a movie like that?
There wouldn't be demarcations telling you a year's passed,
you would just see the maturity.
So... that was the idea. That's the fun part.
The tough part was...
It's such an impractical, crazy idea.
The mechanics of it.
And not to mention getting it financed.
But actors got it.
When I talked to Ethan Hawke or Patricia Arquette, they were like...
"That's kinda crazy but think of the possibilities. Yeah!
"I want to do it! Let's do it!"
So, it was this kind of commitment to this 12-year life project.
Harder to say with kids.
You know, 12 years to six-year-old? My God, that's crazy.
It was a challenge.
Technically.
It's a simple idea and one hand,
but so impractical I can see how it's...it's...
It's not likely to be emulated.
KIDS BEING ROWDY
I only wanted to 10, 15 minutes a year, so...
You know, ended up about a three-day shoot every year.
I had that luxury to think about what goes on that year.
In between, editing as we go.
But, yeah, the numbers are crazy.
It's so impractical, we ultimately spent about two years
in preproduction.
Because you had to cast and do locations and crew up
and get permits and do tech scout...
All the things you do with a movie, we had to do every year.
And same team with editing. We're back in the editing room...
And for a low-budget feature,
we ended up two years in preproduction,
two years in postproduction.
You would never do that.
Hey, dude. Welcome to the suck!
I was really looking for those little things.
I wanted the film to feel like a memory, really of,
like...him may be looking back over his childhood
from the vantage point of the young adult
that he is at the end.
So I really wanted to avoid,
I mean, just personally...
I remember thinking those big moments that...
..are made... That they make movies about.
It's represented a lot.
Those moments aren't what I remember.
You know, I approach everything like that.
I make teenage movie, it's, like, "Well, what do I remember?"
And here's the essence of what I remember.
And I was kind of trying to do that here.
It's, like, why do I remember this little moment
that no-one else would?
It's a collection of lesser moments.
So, I can talk about the film at a conce...
12 years, everyone gets older...
And people would ask, so, what happens in the movie?
And I was, like...not much! You know?
But I was counting on the cumulative effect
of the way we perceive cinema.
You really invest in these characters, and I felt that
it potentially could have the significance
that it has in one's own life -
these little memories -
if the investment was there in these characters.
That these little things that have no business being in a narrative -
they don't advance character, they don't advance plot,
what has to be in a movie -
that you actually could have THAT be the essence of the movie.
And it would matter because you are invested in these characters.
Ah, how was your week?
Well, Dad, you know, it was kind of tough.
Joey's kind of a jerk, actually.
He stole some cigarettes from his mom,
and wanted me to smoke them but I said no,
cos I knew what a hard time you had quitting smoking, Dad.
How about that? Is that so hard?
Dad, these questions are kind of hard to answer.
What is so hard to answer about "What sculpture are you making?"
Its abstract!
I didn't know you were even interested in abstract art.
I'm not. They make us do it.
But, Dad, why is it all on us, though? What about you?
How was your week? Who do you hang out with?
Do you have a girlfriend?
What have you been up to?
I see your point.
So we should let it happen more naturally?
That's what you're saying?
OK. That's what we'll do. Starting now.
I went with the kind of ethereal kid.
who I like the way he thought
and conversations I had with him.
There were a lot of different ways to go,
but I knew he was kind of not from any mould.
And a lot of that was parental.
He was given a lot of leeway,
he wasn't coming out of any cookie cutter, at all.
And that's who he was and who he is.
So I kind of went that way.
I felt he would be more of an artist
- his parents are artists.
He would be that more than maybe the class president that...the...
That kind of kid. It was just choice, I guess.
Haven't you been drinking?
We live in the same town.
He's practically like my nephew, or something.
I just feel like he's family, so...
If I had an event or something, he and his parents might come.
We would meet and I might tell him,
Hey, when you're at a party this year,
or if you meet a girl and find yourself in an intimate conversation
I want to write down what you say.
I want a real teenage conversation here.
So he became a collaborator.
A full artistic collaborator with, kind of...
..assignments.
A guy who saw the big picture
of what the movie was trying to articulate
and was on-board for it.
So it was fun to see his maturation from a kid that...
You know, when you're working with a seven-year-old it's kind of a manipulation...
"Now look here."
And then to see him full-blown artistic collaborator,
it was a fun trajectory, I guess.
What do you want to be, Mason? What do you want to do?
You take on projects that you want to be in your life.
Characters you want to be with.
This was that kind of commitment.
And even though I was very busy -
this was an interesting 12 years -
I got a lot of other films made,
and then just as person, you know -
parent and...
And all that, so you gotta pick your projects carefully.
This is fun material to have on the back burner the whole time.
It was always gestating.
Everything could feed into it.
It was like, "Oh, that could go in there."
"That's an interesting thought."
Really, just the luxury of every year thinking...
Primarily I was thinking of what age Ellar's character was.
Like, "Fourth grade, fourth grade... What was that?"
I could spend a year thinking about that.
And then get to refine that into whatever we shot that year.
And it's really a portrait of parenting, too.
Personally, I had these thoughts about childhood,
but I also had these thoughts about
you know, maturing through parenting, too.
That such a... A big element of the movie.
You guys, you ready to have some fun?
Ohhh! All right, don't worry about it.
I wish I could use the bumpers.
You don't want bumpers! Life doesn't give you bumpers.
With Patricia and Ethan you had that extra layer.
That's why I cast them.
They were both parents in their 20s.
I mean - Patricia, young, I think 20 when she had her first kid.
And, you know, Ethan fairly young.
So I think they had a lot to say about parenting.
We all had a lot to say about childhood,
but we also have something to say about parenting,
and it ends up in collaboration,
not just with each other, but with all our parents.
And ourselves as parents.
And we had our childhoods there,
so there are so many points of entry into this movie.
But, that's what made it so kind of active a collaboration.
We were just pulling stories - you know, our friends,
our contemporaries who are parents and going through that.
So, there was... It was a deep well.
I knew for a life project of 12 years,
it had to be subject matter that I knew would never be exhausted.
It would always be interesting.
And...rolling!
I've never had a movie where I thought,
OK, this one is going to be easy.
It's always... It's storytelling.
You're always trying to crack something.
There's always something that makes it near impossible.
That paints you in a corner in some way,
that'll be very hard to get out of.
So, yeah, you usually... These's some sort of limitation you've set.
But that's where you find the unique element
of this particular story you're trying to tell,
usually comes out of that.
You've thrown up some barrier, some limitation.
So that keeps you on your toes, that's for sure.