Ethan Hawke: The Story of The Hollywood Icon and His Journey With The Venice Film Festival
Ethan Hawke is a legendary figure in the world of cinema, whose acting career spans over three decades. He made his first breakthrough appearance as the quiet and reserved Todd in Dead Poets Society, a character who in time becomes more confident and unafraid to stand up for his beliefs with the help of his charismatic English teacher, portrayed by Robin Williams. Since then his success in film only grew, with four Academy award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Tony Award nomination.
Yet Hawke’s career extends far beyond acting. Over the years he has become an accomplished playwright, novelist and director. He made his first directorial debut in 2001 with the film Chelsea Walls and earned his first Oscar nominations for his screenplays for the films Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013).
The Hollywood star is also very involved in the world of theatre. He has founded the Malaparte Theatre Company in New York City in 1991 and made his stage debut in a production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull a year later. After the theatre company was dissolved in 2001, he came back to Broadway and earned his Tony award nomination for the role of the Russian revolutionary, Mikhail Bakunin in Tom Stoppard’s production of The Coast of Utopia.
Despite all his achievements and accolades over the years, Hawke remains humble and sincere. During his masterclass at this year’s Venice Film Festival he has shared that he has a lot of respect for filmmakers selling properties and being willing to take financial risks to make the projects of their dreams. To Hawke, the main focus of a film should be its heart and soul, the quality of it, not how much money it should make at the box office – a constant running theme that can be felt throughout his films and career.
Hawke has been deeply involved in The Venice Festival for many years now. His first film premiere happened in Venice. At his masterclass this year he recounted the “incredible experience to feel there were a lot of people who made the movie with us there at the premiere and you could feel the movie cast a spell”. Working on the film Dead Poets Society with Peter Weir was especially meaningful for Hawke, as he considers Weir to be a visionary filmmaker with a unique ability to unite the cast and crew of his productions under the same dream.
At this year’s Venice Film Festival he led a masterclass and shared his insights and passion for the industry. At one point he described the paradoxical nature of acting to his audience, “There is a strange double-edged sword to being an actor, which is that on the outside, you get celebrated in success, but the true joys of performing are in disappearing …, you feel yourself disappear and become part of this dream”.
When asked about dealing with setbacks, Hawke recounted many times when he has struggled in his career. He has acknowledged that he has sometimes felt jealous of other filmmakers’ success, but has found a way to deal with those feelings. “Sometimes these remarkable movies get made, and I get so jealous. ‘How did they get that movie made? How did they do that? Why doesn’t the world let me do that? I could do that.’ And then you have to wrestle that feeling down and turn it into something positive and realize that there’s not one pie. Because they did it, you are more likely to be able to do it, if you can”.
He has also expressed his disappointment that throughout his career he hasn’t had the opportunity to work with a lot of female directors, a fact that he believes is embarrassing not only for him, but also for the entire industry.
Another topic that came up at the masterclass was Hawke’s friendship and work with Richard Linklater. Comparing his movies to Harry Potter and Star Wars movies, Hawke has expressed his awe at Linklater’s talent at making his audiences really feel wonder at how they get to walk on this ground of the Earth, breathe in this air and exist in this very universe.
Their latest project together is Blue Moon, a drama about the final days of Lorenz Hart. Hawke drew a few laughs from the crowd at the festival when he recounted how Linklater first told him to wait a few years before they could start filming. The problem was that as Linklater said at the time Hawke was too attractive. Twelve years have passed and last year Hawke received a call from Linklater who told him, “Let’s make Blue Moon. We’re ready.” Hawke replied “go to hell” and they started filming. The directing duo has just finished filming the movie and Hawke seems happy with the result. He said that it might be the hardest he’s ever worked, so he can’t wait for people to see it.
On the topic of directing films Hawke said that working with music is his favourite part of the process. Learning lines as an actor can be dry and boring, but learning them or setting them in connection to music changes that. He especially praised this year’s Silver Lion award winner The Brutalist, which was also liked by critics because of its music.
Hawke’s continuing presence and involvement in the Venice Film Festival highlight his passion for the art of acting and his influence on the world of storytelling, film and cinema. His journey from actor to playwright, director and a theatre visionary continue to inspire audiences, hopeful young actors and people all across the world.