Richard Linklater to Direct 1830s-Set “Hippies” Movie, Starring Ethan Hawke, Natalie Portman and — Potentially— Oscar Isaac

Richard Linklater has two films now in theaters, “Nouvelle Vague” and “Blue Moon,” both terrific, but there’s been little word on what he might do next. After, he’s been fairly prolific of late, having released four films in the last four years.

For some time, though, he’s been planning a film concerning transcendentalism, a literary movement that includes Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. A fascinating part of history that Linklater wants to turn into — what else— a hangout movie.

In a new interview with Filmmaker Magazine, Linklater said the film — about the “hippies of the 1830s and ’40s, the beginnings of feminism, environmentalism, abolitionism, all that,” and a kind of 19th-century hangout movie — has been in the works for around 20 years and might finally be coming.

Furthermore, he gave an update on casting, and the talent assembled has major potential. Ethan Hawke is involved as Emerson, while Natalie Portman hopes to play Margaret Fuller and Oscar Isaac would portray Henry David Thoreau.

Although this project isn’t the most, shall we say, luring topic for prospective buyers, Linklater thinks it might finally be “coming together,” since “people feel a certain urgency to help it in a way that I’m grateful for.”

In between all that, Linklater is also in year six of “Merrily We Go Along,” which began production in 2019, allowing the actors — Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein, and Ben Platt — to age naturally in real time. This same approach earned Linklater acclaim with “Boyhood” in 2014. The film is set to be released sometime in the 2040s.

Through it all, Linklater has built an extraordinary body of work: “Dazed and Confused,” “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset,” “Boyhood,” “Waking Life,” “School of Rock,” “Everybody Wants Some!!,” “Bernie,” “Apollo 10½,” and now, potentially, “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague.”