Richard Linklater has never been a filmmaker in a hurry, but his latest update on MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG shows just how far he is willing to stretch the definition of patience. The director, who began shooting the project with Paul Mescal back in 2019, says it still has a very long road ahead, and by his own estimate the finished film will take eight years longer to complete than BOYHOOD, the landmark drama that took twelve years to make and became a modern classic.

The reveal came during an interview with Zurich Film Festival CEO Christian Jungen, when an audience member asked Linklater where things stood. His answer was equal parts progress report and punchline. He explained that the plan is to shoot nine sections across twenty years, with the fourth section set to begin filming in just a few months, and then signed off with a cheerful “see you in 2040.” Coming from anyone else, that might sound like a threat. From Linklater, it sounds like a promise.

What makes the situation particularly amusing to him is the contrast with his earlier experiment. BOYHOOD, he pointed out, was made in near total secrecy, so nobody was waiting on updates or asking when it might arrive. This time, the stakes of visibility are entirely different. Because the project is a Stephen Sondheim musical and therefore very much in the public eye, he joked that he has to field the same question for two full decades while the film is being made.

The story itself feels perfectly suited to such an unusual method. Told in reverse chronological order, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG follows Franklin Shepard, a Broadway composer who walks away from his art and his friendships to become a wealthy, cynical Hollywood producer. A tale about how time reshapes ambition and erodes the bonds we once thought unbreakable seems made for a production that will itself unfold over the better part of a lifetime, and if Linklater’s track record is any guide, the wait may well prove worthwhile.