Filmmaker Richard Linklater is no stranger to unique narratives.  Dazed and Confused follows a number of characters on the last day of school in 1976, and Before Sunset plays out essentially in real time as Ethan Hawke’s Jesse and Julie Delpy’s Celine spend a couple of hours together in Paris.  However, Linklater’s most ambitious film to date has actually been in production for the last decade.  Growing Up (aka Boyhood) stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as a divorced couple raising their son, and Linklater and his actors have been shooting scenes for the film every year since 2002, as the story traces the boy’s life from first grade to 12th grade.

Steve recently spoke with Linklater in anticipation of the release of Before Midnight, and the director provided a promising update on the status of Growing Up.  Linklater said that he’s actually mulling over a 2014 release for the film, revealing that the production process is nearly complete.  Linklater also talked about how closely the finished product resembles his intial plan and how long the pic’s runtime will be.  Hit the jump to read on.

Speaking with Steve, Linklater said that he’s nearly done with filming on Growing Up and could possibly release the pic next year:

“We’re kind of stuck in a chronology of age, so I think I’d like to be done with it next year.  I think it would be great if it came out in 2014.  I’m not totally sure, but that seems about right.”

This is great news for fans who have been clamoring to see how the fascinating film will turn out, and Linklater added that the finished film is rather close to what he originally envisioned:

“[It’s] pretty close [to my original plan].  Believe it or not, every project is basically as designed.  When people ask anything like what you said, of course.  To me, film is all about structure and planning, and trying to get it exactly the way you’re thinking of it.  The process was what it was about, so I’m not really surprised that it’s pretty much an exploration of what I thought it would be.”

With a decade’s worth of footage, one might imagine Growing Up could be a rather sprawling film.  However, Linklater notes that the finished feature will sport a normal runtime:

“It’s one feature film.  It’ll be a little longer, like over two hours, but it’s not five hours or eight hours.  It’s feature length.”

Watch the portion of Steve’s conversation with Linklater regarding Growing Up below, and look for the full interview on Collider soon.