The alternative film 'Boyhood' was directed by Richard Linklater and filmed over 12 years.
The production began in 2002 and concluded in 2013, with the same actors returning periodically as the central character, Mason, grows from childhood into young adulthood. Ellar Coltrane plays Mason, while Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke play his parents.
Rather than using different actors to represent different ages, Linklater allowed the performers to age naturally. This unusual method gives the film its continuous visual progression, but it also required a long-term production schedule and careful planning around the actors' changing lives.
'Boyhood' premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and received six Academy Award nominations. Patricia Arquette won Best Supporting Actress. The film is sometimes confused with Linklater's 'Before' trilogy, which also follows characters over time, but those films were shot as separate productions rather than continuously across Mason's childhood.