The State of Ethan Hawke, Part II
December 6, 2007

Here’s the second half of my recent conversation with Ethan Hawke wherein we discussed his career in theater and film and the DVD release of his latest directorial effort, The Hottest State.

VB: It’s often said that theater is an actor’s and writer’s medium, while film is really a director’s medium. Would you like to learn more of the technical and production aspects of filmmaking, or are you satisfied knowing that you bring an actor’s and writer’s talents to a film?

HAWKE: I don’t know, I just don’t know. I just turned 37 and for the first time in my life, I just have no idea what to do next.

VB: Maybe it’s time to take some time off?

HAWKE: Yeah, I think it’s time to take a break. For the last few of years, since playing Hotspur in Henry IV, I kind of fell in love with the theater all over again. I did Henry IV, Hurlyburly and Coast of Utopia in the past four years.

VB: Man, that’s some serious material! For a Broadway actor, does it get much better than Shakespeare, David Rabe and Tom Stoppard?

HAWKE: Yeah, I feel really good about those productions. And I directed The Hottest State in between them. So now, I feel like I might just take a year, chill out and be a gun-for-hire for a little while.

VB: So you’re thinking you’re gonna read some scripts and finding some nice juicy part where you could be shooting in Paris in the springtime for a couple of months?  

HAWKE: Exactly, dude. I’ve spent the past day reading scripts saying, ‘Alright, this could be cool.’ The beauty of something like The Hottest State, about any passion project, is that it’s personal. But when things get personal, exactly what’s good about them is also what’s hard about them. Like my grandfather used to say, those kind of things don’t appeal to the lowest common denominator. It’s a lot of work and a lot of reward, but sometimes, you just don’t need to work that hard.

VB: How long was the shoot?

HAWKE: Thirty-two days or something like that.

VB: How did you do in the editing room?

HAWKE: Editing is a ball. Anybody on the planet would fall in love with editing. It’s so relaxing. It’s like the good parts of writing without the bad parts. You never have to stare at a blank page. It’s very calm, all the material is in front of you and all you have to do is collate it. It’s also very creative. I loved it.

VB: Now that it’s all digitalized, it must be a little easier to get on board with the process.

VB: I see that the DVD for The Hottest State has a director’s commentary. Did you enjoy recording the track?

HAWKE: I loved it. It makes you feel like you’re in film school. The great thing about film directing is that it’s great for your ego. It’s so much fun to sit there and talk about making your movie. You know, I’ve watched Raging Bull and other Scorsese films, listened to the commentary and what Scorsese had to say, and I know I’m not that. At the same time, I’ve listened to other commentaries and heard the most banal thing. ‘This is when I picked my nose,’ and stuff like that. So, I tried to make it as interesting as possible and at the same time I secretly wondered whether or not anyone was going to listen to it.

VB: Okay, so now this one is behind you and you think you may focus on some film acting after you take a little time off. Do you think The Hottest State honed your chops to the point that you see yourself directing another film down the line?

HAWKE: I definitely needed experience as a director and I think The Hottest State was a very easy movie to make for a first-timer. It’s wasn’t an expensive piece, it involved working with young actors which is a situation I’m comfortable with, and it just made a lot of sense to start with The Hottest State. I would like to direct another one, yes, but next time I think I’d be much more interested in directing something someone else wrote. What’s really neat about The Hottest State is that I wrote it so long ago that it almost felt like I adapting somebody else’s novel. I started writing it when I was 23, and now I have a couple of kids and I’ve been divorced. Today, I’ve got a lot of problems that have nothing to do with this movie and I think I came through.

Posted by Laurence Lerman on December 6, 2007 | Comments (0)