The actor who changed Ethan Hawke’s life: “He knows what the audience is thinking”
Ethan Hawke has quite literally grown up on-screen. From his film debut as a teenager in 1985’s Explorers to his modern-day incarnation as one of the old hands of Hollywood, he has always been one of the best in the game. Only one actor changed Hawke’s life when he worked with him, though, and he also dubbed that star the greatest of his generation.
Throughout the ’90s, Hawke went from being the breakout young star of Dead Poet’s Society to becoming a Generation X icon in Reality Bites. Unfortunately, he then saw his decade peter out with the mostly-forgotten legal drama Snow Falling on Cedars. He began the 2000s by playing Hamlet, then made two acclaimed Richard Linklater indies, Waking Life and Tape, the second of which he has said was his “first adult performance”.
At this point in his career, Hawke was an indie actor who appealed to a niche audience, but he wasn’t someone going out for the biggest roles in Hollywood. Then, a script crossed his path that he knew had the potential to become a massive movie – and he wanted in. The exciting young director Antoine Fuqua was already attached to the project, which was promising. However, the main selling point was the star Hawke would be starring opposite if he landed the role: Denzel Washington.
The script was, of course, Training Day, which would go on to become a huge hit and the movie that finally earned Washington the ‘Best Actor’ Academy Award. In fact, Hawke would also be nominated for the film in the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ category – a crazy turn of events considering he claims producers didn’t want him in the role of Officer Jake Hoyt. In 2018, he told The Bill Simmons Podcast, “I wanted that part so bad…I met Antoine, and it became kind of clear to me that Antoine and Denzel wanted me, but other people didn’t want me, and I was going to really have to jump through some hoops and audition.”
After jumping through every hoop, though, Hawke won the role and settled in to work with Washington. The experience was a revelation for the star, who was still fairly young at the time. In 2021, he told The New York Times, “It was like playing music with Miles Davis or baseball with Babe Ruth. Denzel changed my life. To be 30 and get to work with one of the greats of all time? I’ve never seen anybody be a flat-out better storyteller.”
Hawke was stunned by Washington’s innate connection with cinemagoers’ wants and desires. In fact, he believes this bond between artist and audience helps the Malcolm X star shape his performance on set. He marvelled, “He knows what the audience is thinking. He knows how to surprise them. His imagination is so thorough.”
The Black Phone star revealed that Washington’s force of personality and aura on set is intense, which can be off-putting for people who can’t match his energy. He told Simmons, “He’s an amazingly confident man. He knows who he is, he fills the room, he knows what he wants, and he expects a lot from other people.” He chuckled, “If you’re some shrinking violet, it’s going to be a hard time for you.”
For actors who can raise themselves to Washington’s level, though, the experience is creatively thrilling and extremely beneficial to their own work. Hawke mused, “That was really inspiring to me, to see my chosen profession done at that level.”
Ultimately, Hawke loved getting to go toe-to-toe with an icon like Washington – and he counted himself lucky to be able to do it a second time in 2016’s The Magnificent Seven remake. After all, he truly thinks that “When all is said and done, he’s the greatest actor of our generation.“
