Ethan Hawke has been making movies for decades. But it took a role his longtime collaborator Richard Linklater dreamed up — born out of years of shared theater trips and a mutual love of the stage — to finally earn him his first lead actor Academy Award nomination.
“I don’t think anybody else really would’ve thought of me for this character,” Hawke said in Variety’s “For the Love of the Craft: The Nominees” video. “But because he knows me so well, he knew how passionately I would feel about it.”
Hawke, nominated for best actor for his portrayal of lyricist Lorenz Hart in Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” said he first read the script more than 10 years ago. The two have long bonded over a shared love of theater. They first met when Linklater came to see Hawke in a play and the script felt like a natural extension of that relationship. The long gestation proved to be a gift. “I felt happy that I’ve been able to dream about it for 10 years,” he said. “I didn’t have to rush to be ready.”
Over that time, Hawke immersed himself in Richard Rogers and Hart’s musical theater world, collecting biographies, seeking out Chet Baker and Bob Dylan covers of their songs and filling what he called his “imaginative tank” at his own pace.
“Blue Moon” premiered at the Berlin Film Festival a year ago and has built a devoted following since, with Hawke returning to Berlin this week as the awards season reaches its peak. He credits good fortune as much as craft. “It’s so hard to penetrate the zeitgeist right now without a tremendous amount of money in advertising,” he said. “When that happens, you kind of feel this wash of gratitude of being really lucky.”
On the subject of craft itself, Hawke was characteristically thoughtful, invoking his late friend Philip Seymour Hoffman. “You have to walk a razor’s edge of feeling like it’s the most important thing in the world,” he said, “and simultaneously treat it like it’s a game that is so much fun to play.” He also pointed to Uta Hagen’s “Respect for Acting” and Sidney Lumet’s “Making Movies” as touchstones, framing great performance less as inspiration than as disciplined, learnable trade.
What will he take away from playing Hart? The eyes of his co-stars — Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley and Robert Capelli Jr. — and, above all, Linklater’s steadying presence. “Rick’s unflagging friendship,” Hawke said. “That’s what I take away.”