Opening in limited release this weekend is one of the best films you’re going to see this year: Before Midnight, director Richard Linklater’s follow-up to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. The new film takes place 18 years after Before Sunrise and 9 years after Before Sunset, and sees Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) navigating married life on a trip to Greece. Like the previous films, it’s a lot of walking and talking, but it absolutely works because of the intimate and lived-in chemistry between the lead actors, who also co-wrote the film with Linklater. I can honestly say this is one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time, and even if you haven’t seen the previous films, you should see it when it comes to a theater near you.
The other day, I landed an video interview with Hawke and Delpy here in Los Angeles. We talked about whether they were more nervous writing the 3rd installment than the previous films due to fan expectations, deleted scenes, how they once tried to improvise and failed miserably, did they make any radical changes to the story during the writing process, the reasons why they filmed the sequel with little fanfare, and a lot more. Hit the jump to watch.
And if you missed my extended video interview with Linklater, watch it here.
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy:
- Doing press and answering the same questions
- Were they more nervous writing the 3rd installment than the previous films due to fan expectations. They talk about how they wanted to make a real movie
- Do they constantly write down lines of dialogue when they hear something in real life
- Are there any deleted scenes from all three films that have yet to be released
- They talk about a scene they tried to improvise and how they failed
- Did they ever make any radical changes to the story during the writing process
- How they filmed the movie with little fanfare and no publicity
