Buzz
Back in 1995, a young Jesse (Ethan Hawke) convinced a captivating French woman named Celine (Julie Delpy) to spend an unforgettable night wandering through Vienna, delving into conversations about love, life, and mortality. Little did viewers know that this fleeting 12-hour romance would evolve into a nearly two-decade-long journey spanning three films. By the conclusion of Sunrise, the pair makes a pact to reunite at the same train station in six months. Did they actually meet again? Fans had to wait nearly a decade to discover the answer, as Celine, Jesse, and director Richard Linklater reunited for two sequels: 2004’s Before Sunset and 2013’s Before Midnight, which revealed whether Jesse and Celine achieved their version of a happy ending. Here are some lesser-known facts about the iconic first film.
1. THE ARGUING COUPLE IN THE TRAIN’S OPENING SCENE ACCUSES EACH OTHER OF ALCOHOLISM.
Linklater intentionally omitted subtitles for the German-speaking couple’s argument, leaving non-German speakers in the dark about their heated exchange. However, the script provides a translation. The man reads a newspaper article stating that 70,000 women struggle with alcohol addiction and bluntly tells his wife, “You’re one of them.” She fires back, accusing him of being the alcoholic. “I have a reason to drink—I’m married to you!” he snaps.
2. THE TRACK CELINE AND JESSE ENJOY IN THE LISTENING BOOTH IS “COME HERE” BY AMERICAN ARTIST KATH BLOOM.
Linklater, an admirer of Bloom’s work, chose her song for the film. The exposure Bloom gained from the movie motivated her to produce new albums, such as 1999’s Come Here: The Florida Years.
3. LINKLATER, HAWKE, AND DELPY WERE CERTAIN CELINE AND JESSE WOULD REUNITE.
“I always believed the film served as a test of one’s perspective on romance,” Linklater explained to The New York Times in 2004. “Some viewers insisted, ‘It’s obvious. They’ll never meet again.’ People were so convinced.” He noted that the audience’s interpretation often reflects their own romantic experiences. Clearly, Delpy, Linklater, and Hawke are optimists—they were confident Celine and Jesse would find their way back to each other.
4. CELINE AND JESSE MAKE A CAMEO IN LINKLATER’S WAKING LIFE.
In Linklater’s debut rotoscoped film (a unique animation technique), Jesse and Celine are seen sharing a bed, engaging in a dreamlike, intellectual conversation reminiscent of Sunrise.
5. THE FILM IS SET ON BLOOMSDAY
Every year on June 16, cities like Dublin and others around the globe honor James Joyce’s Ulysses; the novel’s events unfold on June 16, 1904. The Joyce connections don’t stop there: Jesse’s actual name is coincidentally James.
6. THE MOVIE INCLUDES CAMEO APPEARANCES BY LINKLATER, ADAM GOLDBERG, AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JOHN SLOSS.
Goldberg, who collaborated with Linklater on Dazed and Confused, is the man sleeping on the train during the opening scene. Interestingly, Goldberg and Delpy later became a couple and co-starred in 2 Days in Paris, a film Delpy wrote and directed. Linklater makes a subtle, Hitchcock-style appearance in the Arena bar scene, playing foosball while wearing a Shonen Knife T-shirt—a renowned Japanese band that released their 19th album recently. Additionally, producer John Sloss, who continued working with Linklater on the subsequent Before films and Boyhood, portrays the grumbling American at Café Sperl, the setting for Celine and Jesse’s pretend phone call.
7. THIS MARKED THE BEGINNING OF 10 COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN HAWKE AND LINKLATER.
Hawke and Delpy reunited with Linklater for the Before follow-ups and Waking Life, but Hawke was the sole member of the duo to appear in Linklater’s films outside the Jesse and Celine saga. Just three years after Sunrise, Hawke took on a role in Linklater’s The Newton Boys, alongside another Linklater favorite, Matthew McConaughey. Hawke also featured in Tape, Fast Food Nation, and the recent Boyhood. Linklater made appearances in Hawke’s first two directorial efforts, Chelsea Walls and The Hottest State.
8. JESSE INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIES THE MISS JULY PLAYBOY PLAYMATES.
While discussing his early sexual experiences, Jesse tells Celine about his “obsessive connection with Miss July 1978,” mistakenly calling her “Crystal.” In reality, Miss July 1978 was Karen Morton, not Crystal. Sadly, Miss July passed away a year ago.
9. DESPITE THE NATURAL-SOUNDING DIALOGUE, NONE OF THE SUNRISE FILMS WERE IMPROVISED.
During a 2013 Reddit AMA, Linklater discussed the concept of “non-acting acting.” “It’s flattering when audiences believe the Sunrise trilogy is improvised, but few realize the immense effort Delpy and Hawke put into their performances,” he explained. Delpy also addressed the misconception, stating, “These films are meticulously rehearsed, with every detail and overlapping line carefully scripted,” she shared with the Chicago Tribune in 2013. “It’s almost amusing when people assume we’re improvising.”
10. THE ACTORS STRUGGLED TO FIND A BELIEVABLE REASON FOR CELINE TO LEAVE THE TRAIN WITH JESSE.
In 2012, Hawke revealed to The Guardian that he and Delpy engaged in “controlled improvisations” to determine what Jesse could say to persuade her. Delpy insisted Celine would only exit the train for someone witty and intelligent. “We eventually landed on the idea that I was a time traveler,” Hawke recalled. “She responded, ‘Alright, that would make me get off the train.’”
11. BEFORE SUNRISE WAS CO-WRITTEN BY TWO WOMEN—KIM KRIZAN AND JULIE DELPY—BUT THE SCRIPT MAINTAINED A GENDER-NEUTRAL TONE.
Linklater explained to The Guardian in 2013 that Dazed and Confused “leaned heavily into a male perspective, filled with testosterone and reflecting my mindset at the time.” He aimed to avoid favoring one gender over the other, which contributed to the successful collaboration between Hawke, Delpy, and himself. “Ethan and I both embrace a feminist perspective, and Julie has a strong masculine side, so it balances out: Ethan writes much of Julie’s dialogue, Julie writes for Ethan, and I act as the deciding voice.”
12. HAWKE, LINKLATER, AND DELPY OFTEN JOKED THAT BEFORE SUNRISE WAS THE LOWEST-GROSSING MOVIE EVER TO GET A SEQUEL, BUT THAT’S NOT TRUE.
Sunrise earned just $5 million domestically (though adjusted for inflation, it becomes the highest-earning film in the trilogy, with $10.5 million). Despite limited demand from others, it still received a sequel. In fact, there are numerous franchises with even lower earnings that spawned sequels, such as the V/H/S horror series.
13. THE MOVIE WAS INSPIRED BY A MELANCHOLY REAL-LIFE EVENT.
In 1997, Linklater shared with The Morning Call that Sunrise was inspired by a real encounter he had with a woman in Philadelphia in 1989. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that a Chicago Tribune article revealed the full story: Her name was Amy Lehrhaupt, and tragically, she passed away in 1994, before Linklater began filming Sunrise. Before Midnight is dedicated to her memory.
14. DELPY AND HAWKE WERE NOT OFFICIALLY CREDITED AS SCREENWRITERS.
Despite contributing equally to the script alongside Linklater, they weren’t credited due to “screenwriting guild rules that attributed authorship solely to the originators.” However, Hawke and Delpy earned writing credits for the sequels, leading to nominations for two WGA awards and two Oscars.
15. DELPY MADE HAWKE NERVOUS.
During a recent Reddit AMA, Hawke was asked what bonus features he’d like to see if the Sunrise trilogy were released as a Criterion Collection. “I’d love to finally watch my screen test with Julie,” he shared with a fan. “I’ve never seen it. I still remember how intimidating she was—if you ever want to meet a formidable 23-year-old woman, Julie Delpy tops the list. But I’d really enjoy seeing our audition together.”
