Oscar nominee Ellar Coltrane was the star of Boyhood, a film that critics called an unprecedented masterpiece of the human condition. The film was somewhat of a biopic of Coltrane, capturing the natural nuances of aging and development as the same actors are seen over the course of 12 years. So what will come next for Coltrane, who began filming at age 6 and has spent little time playing other roles?
“That was my life for the last 12 years,” Coltrane told New York Magazine. “That’s over. And now, now what?”
Apart from appearances in Fastfood Nation, Lone Star State of Mind, and Hallettsville, the 20-year-old actor hasn’t had much experience playing characters other than himself.
But that may be a good thing.
Philip Seymour Hoffman once told MovieMaker Magazine that “everything I play is close to me in its own way.”
According to acting coach Joseph Pearlman, the best kinds of actors are the ones who can remain themselves despite playing other characters.
“The personality of the actor is nine-tenths of the performance … One’s own personality and humanity must never be discarded unless you desire to strip the character of its soul,” Pearlman wrote for Backstage.
In many aspects, Coltrane’s character in Boyhood was, well, exactly himself.
