Written by Perrin Smith, Photo courtesy of Neil Grabowsky of Montclair Film
“Kids don’t know,” said Ethan Hawke. He was speaking about the first time he remembers being interested in the arts. Whether or not, as asked by Variety’s Deputy Awards and Features Editor Jenelle Riley, he knew he wanted to be an actor as a child.
“I felt a magnetic pull from a young age to performing,” Hawke said. But he was never sure if it was all for the attention or because he truly had an interest in acting.
For Hawke, the 2020 Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment Award-winner, serious acting began when he started going to auditions with his neighbor. His relationship with acting got real very quickly from there. “My first scene partner was River Phoenix,” he said. “The way he thought about art, at a really young age, was with depth.”
Catapulted into the performing arts as quickly as he was, Hawke has had a long time to hone his craft and find his niche in the film world. But, in his own words, he hasn’t come near perfecting his trade. He said he thinks actors should try to become better by learning from those around them.
“One lifetime isn’t enough. When you can sit back and admit that you don’t know anything — you can’t really learn until you admit that,” Hawke said. “I had to admit that I was zero.”
The conversation quickly turned from there to what it means to be successful as an artist.
“I learned at a young age that fame is a fickle thing,” said Hawke. He said that after four Academy Award nominations and a slew of credits both in front of and behind the camera, he’s learned that money and being a celebrity isn’t everything. Instead, he said he thinks it’s about doing anything you can to become better.
“What society chooses to celebrate is like a false god,” he said. “Yeah, I could’ve made a lot more money, but my goal was to be a better actor. So, why wouldn’t I join a Pulitzer Prize-winning production?”
He went on to say that, especially for actors, the job of bringing life to your characters is more than just reading scripts. “Remembering your lines isn’t everything. That’s the first step, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about transmitting imagination, soul, sadness,” he said. Hawke said that he’s learned this from playing off actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman and River Phoenix.
Through working with directors like Richard Linklater, Antoine Fuqua and Sidney Lumet, he’s learned that being a great filmmaker necessitates an understanding of all the roles involved in the process. That, he said, and being able to see new ways of doing things.
“If you look at the history of great directors, it’s crazy how many were actors,” he said. “Linklater has never spent time on anyone else’s film set. Actors are everywhere. It allows you to see how other directors do it.”
It’s about collaboration, he said. It’s not about what one person can do on their own or the money they can make. It’s not about being in blockbusters. Instead, success in art is doing what you can to make yourself a better artist.
