Ethan Hawke: “I wonder if I’m up to the task”

 

Mr. Hawke, has a life in the film business been what you expected it would be when you started out?

You know, ever since I turned 40 I’ve been asking myself a lot of those questions. I don’t know. I’ve been doing this since I was thirteen and I feel I’ve made a handful of pretty good movies. It’s very difficult to make a good film, very difficult. So many things need to happen right. It’s possible to make a good film in Hollywood; it’s harder to make a film that can last any amount of time. But it really all depends on what your inner goal is, you know? More and more I realize that if your goal is to be a big shot, you’ve got to make them in Hollywood.

And if you’re not interested in being a big shot?

If your goal is to tell the truth and try to make something beautiful, then you’re going to be less likely to do that in Hollywood. Some of the best times I’ve had in my life have been on a film set – working with
Richard Linklater and Julie Delpy in Paris writing Before Sunset together. I could die. It was what I’d dreamed of doing.

So to be successful in Hollywood do you have to sell out a little bit?

No. For example, I sometimes think about Paul McCartney. People always say, “Oh, Paul McCartney, he sold out. He writes popular music.” Paul McCartney is as true to himself as John Lennon was true to himself. They just had different interests. One of the things that I find is that I tend not to be very good at making commercial Hollywood movies. Every time I try, I fail, because I don’t understand them. I worked with Denzel Washington and he understands how to make a good Hollywood movie. He understands what the audience is thinking and wanting and knows how to do that without being crass. It’s an art; it’s a skill. It’s just a question of what your goal is. I do think about what I want from the second half of my life. I don’t know what I want to do…

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