Richard Linklater, the filmmaker behind some of the most celebrated movies of the last three decades — including “Boyhood,” the “Before” trilogy and Netflix’s new “Hit Man” — has also been fairly guarded when it comes to discussing non-cinematic topics. That’s something that he told The New York Times is by design, explaining, “I could share my brain snot with the whole world the way everybody else does, but I don’t see any value in it for me.”

Linklater was asked about the different identities he’s inhabited over the years, which prompted him to admit, “my purest self is on the set making a movie. That’s the pure me, but it’s manufactured me.”

“Catch me at dinner later, and you get the guy who’s processing the [expletive] of the day and having his lectures about whatever lunatic political ideas that are flowing through my system in real-time like everybody else,” he shared. “But I process the world through art, in particular cinema, and that’s the space that I’ve been lucky enough to live in.”

“If you’re unfortunate enough to be sitting next to me at dinner, I will spout off what I’m putting together superficially in my head to have the world make sense, but I don’t have a need to share that publicly.” So that may be one you don’t see Linklater dropping bombs on social media.

“I could share my brain snot with the whole world the way everybody else does, but I don’t see any value in it for me, because I’ve been privileged to make the greatest, most expressive storytelling art form ever invented. So why would I put any effort into these transitory, weird, reactive areas?” Linklater concluded.

He also spoke about his film adaptation of the musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” The story takes place over a span of 20 years, and Linklater intends to film the movie over the same span of time. It’s a feat he first accomplished with “Boyhood,” and something that he seemed happy to be attempting again.

In response to the idea that the movie will be a “capstone” to his career, Linklater said, “I’ve never thought that, because I see myself making a film when I’m like 94. I really do. I’ll go along, try to stay in shape, try to be healthy, hope to get lucky. But we’re telling a story that takes place over 20 years, and it’s really important, for this story to work, that you feel those years go by.”

Read the full interview with Richard Linklater in the New York Times.