If any other actor sat on a morning talk show and declared their upcoming project “among the greatest films ever made,” I’d probably change the channel. It reeks of promotional desperation. But when that actor is Ethan Hawke, and the project is his tenth collaboration with Richard Linklater, the cynicism evaporates. You don’t roll your eyes. You lean in.
This is the duo that gave us the Before trilogy and Boyhood. They’ve earned the right to be hyperbolic.
During a January 7th appearance on Today to promote their ninth film, Blue Moon, Hawke dropped this massive claim about their next venture. It wasn’t a slip. He doubled down: “I’m not even nervous about saying it. We’ve been thinking about this movie since about 1998.”
The Twenty-Year Dream Finally Coming Together
For those tracking Linklater’s career, this is the “white whale.” He’s spoken previously about a film focusing on the intellectual heavyweights of 1830s-40s America—Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller. In a recent Filmmaker Magazine interview, he described it as “the hippies of the 1830s and ’40s, the beginnings of feminism, environmentalism, abolitionism.”
It’s a hangout movie. About transcendentalists. In period costume. This is either brilliant or insane, and with Linklater, those categories often overlap.
Hawke confirmed the film is a “period piece” arriving in 2027. If they’ve genuinely been developing this since the late ’90s, we’re looking at a project built on the same long-gestation methodology that produced Boyhood—a film constructed over time rather than against it.
Why “The Tenth” Matters
There’s a specific texture to Linklater/Hawke collaborations. Dialogue-heavy. Deeply human. Usually concerned with how time slips through our fingers. Hawke mentioned that Blue Moon was “one of the best scripts I ever read”—and he views it as merely a precursor to this tenth film.
The current momentum helps. Linklater released Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon in rapid succession. Hawke’s performance as lyricist Lorenz Hart has already earned a Critics Choice nomination. Their chemistry hasn’t dimmed since Before Sunrise captured Gen X hearts three decades ago.
When an artist predicts their own masterpiece, you usually brace for hubris. But listening to Hawke promise to return in 18 months to “back it up,” I didn’t sense arrogance. I sensed the relief of someone who finally nailed something they’d been chasing for twenty years.
The Stakes
To call your shot like this—predicting a spot in the time capsule before the film is even finished—is a gamble. But considering this team turned a twelve-year experiment into a Best Picture nominee, betting against them feels foolish.
My take: this film either becomes an unintelligible, indulgent mess about philosophy, or it actually is the masterpiece Hawke claims. There’s no middle ground for a project like this. You’re either convinced by twenty years of development, or you think it’s twenty years of delusion. Pick one.
FAQ: Hawke Linklater Transcendentalist Film
Why would a “hangout movie” about philosophers require decades to produce?
Linklater uses time as a structural element, not just a production constraint. By developing material over twenty-plus years, he allows his own evolving understanding of Emerson and Thoreau to shape the narrative. It’s less about capturing history and more about letting the ideas age alongside the filmmakers—which is very Linklater.
Does Hawke’s “greatest ever” claim help or hurt the film’s chances?
It’s a risk. Pre-release hype at this level usually backfires. But in this specific context, it signals ambition beyond typical indie filmmaking. It tells audiences to judge this against cinema history, not just the 2027 release calendar. Whether that’s earned or not, we’ll know in 18 months.
