Just a few months after the release of his latest feature, Bernie, director Richard Linklater has already secretly wrapped his follow-up project.  Word broke out last week that Linklater was in Greece working on a sequel to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset with actors/co-writers Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.  Hawke, however, was quick to downplay the rumors as he insisted that they were simply developing a screenplay and “trying to see if it’s worth filming.”Well it looks like Hawke was stretching the truth a bit, because Deadline now reports that they actually were filming the sequel, titled Before Midnight, and production has now wrapped.  Hit the jump for more, including the first image from the film.Before Midnight apparently just wrapped last night, but the film will be presented to buyers at the Toronto Film Festival, which kicks off this week.  Before Sunrise centered on a young American (Hawke) and a young French woman (Delpy) who meet on a train and spend the night walking around Vienna getting to know each other.  Before Sunset picked up nine years later and plays out in real time as the couple cross paths once again and spend an afternoon in Paris.  For Before Midnight the encounter takes place in Greece, and here’s the statement released by the trio about the film:

“It’s great to be back together again, this time in beautiful Greece to revisit the lives of Celine and Jesse nine years after Jesse was about to miss his flight.”

It’s tough to get a movie made under the radar these days, and I applaud Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy for getting away with it almost unnoticed.  Director David Gordon Green similarly succeeded earlier this year when he wrapped a secret comedy remake of Either Way called Prince Avalance with Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch in Austin.  Keep an eye on Collider throughout the next week, as I’m sure we’ll be reporting on Before Midnight securing distribution at the Toronto Film Festival.