Ep 27. Ethan Hawke
Success came to Ethan Hawke when he was young, and across a wide spectrum. He landed a major motion picture, \u201cThe Explorers,\u201d at 13, off his first audition. His second film, at 18, under Robin Williams\u2019 tutelage on and off screen, was the now-classic \u201cDead Poets Society.\u201d He\u2019s been an established star ever since. At age 24, In the midst of his early film successes, he published \u201cThe Hottest State.\u201d Hawke admits that adding \u201cnovelist\u201d to his resume made him an easy target for ridicule. The word \u201cpretentious\u201d has been thrown at him countless times, often by foes, a few times by friends, even by himself. His response? \u201cIt beats not trying.\u201dHe did keep trying, and with this true renaissance man\u2019s every career milestone over 20-plus years, the naysaying is drowned out by the praise. His insecure high-schooler Todd in \u201cDead Poets Society,\u201d ultimate slacker Troy in \u201cReality Bites,\u201d sincere rookie partner to sleazeball cop Denzel Washington in \u201cTraining Day,\u201d his soulful Jesse in the \u201cBefore Sunrise\u201d trilogy and most recently his increasingly less immature father Mason Sr. in \u201cBoyhood,\u201d as well as his critically beloved screenplays for the trilogy, which he co-wrote with Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater, have entrenched him in the top tier of the film industry, with four Oscar nominations. He has the faith of stage producers and directors as well: He\u2019s done Shakespeare, Chekhov, and three plays with Tom Stoppard. His second novel, \u201cAsh Wednesday,\u201d was a best seller, and inspired The New York Times to write: \u201cHe displays a novelist\u2019s innate gifts. He has a sharp eye, a fluid storytelling voice and the imagination to create complicated individuals.\u201dA funny thing happened as Hawke, and his career, ripened into maturity: He morphed from embodying the essence of perpetually promising youth \u2013 \u201dI\u2019d always been the youngest at everything\u201d -- to a personification of the wisdom that comes with the passage of time. In the Sunrise trilogy, 18 years in the making, and \u201cBoyhood,\u201d 12 years in the making, we watched Hawke get older, less idealistic, more attuned to life\u2019s ups and downs, meeting life\u2019s challenges realistically, if not always admirably. On screen, he\u2019s let himself wise up, screw up and then get up and move on, older and smarter. In his real life, he takes these lessons to heart. Now, in his latest film, he moves behind the camera to show the world someone who\u2019s played the game of life even more skillfully than he, someone who embodies an ethos that Hawke has embraced: In the grand scheme, it\u2019s not about growing up, it\u2019s not about growing old, it\u2019s simply about growing.