The director Ethan Hawke called “a special person and a unique filmmaker”
There are few actors in the history of modern Hollywood who have enjoyed a career quite like Ethan Hawke. As admired in huge blockbusters as he is in smaller, independent productions, Hawke has laid down his marker as one of all-time great contemporary performers.
Looking back at Hawke’s filmography, we find sheer quality. From his early work in Explorers and Dead Poets Society to his later efforts in Training Day, Boyhood, Gattaca and Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, it’s clear to see that the Texas-born star has always been brimming with acting talent.
If there were one director we would eternally relate to Hawke, though, it would have to be Richard Linklater. After all, the two American cinema icons have collaborated on countless brilliant occasions, including in Linklater’s movies The Newton Boys, Waking Life, Tape, and Boyhood.
Of course, one cannot think of Hawke and Linklater’s working relationship and not immediately conjure up Linklater’s Before Trilogy. The trio of movies began in 1995 with Before Sunrise, in which Hawke and Julie Delpy’s characters meet on a European train and spend 24 hours in Vienna together. Nine years later, Linklater released the sequel, which focused on Jesse and Celine coming back together after spending nearly a decade apart.
People had wondered whether Linklater and Hawke would team up again for a third movie, and in 2013, their wishes were granted. In an interview with Film Comment, Hawke said of Before Midnight, “This third time, we’re feeling a real obligation to try to do it right, and that’s a lot of pressure, you know? We don’t want to force it. It feels slightly unfinished to me, that series. I love the end of the second film, but it does feel unfinished. We don’t want to ruin the other two by making something half-assed.”
The only reason that Hawke would have wanted to return to the same storyline, though, was so that he could work with Delpy again and, perhaps more importantly, his most frequent collaborator, Linklater. He said of the director, “Linklater is a special person and unique filmmaker.” Indeed, Linklater has been championed by his actors whenever he has released a movie, and on top of that, he’s a brilliant filmmaker, too.
After coming into the public eye with his 1990 movie Slacker, Linklater set the stoner comedy world alight with Dazed and Confused. The 21st century would also see some brilliant works from the Texas-born filmmaker, including the likes of School of Rock, A Scanner Darkly and Hit Man.
In another interview with Roger Ebert, Hawke once spoke of his first impressions of Linklater and how he knew he would love to work with him. “I met Richard Linklater, and all of a sudden, it was even more interesting because here was someone of my generation who was already a fully formed artist and had a sense of purpose,” the actor said.
Adding: “He’s so educated in the history of film.”
If there were ever a director that Ethan Hawke might want to spend the rest of his professional life working for, then you could bet your last pound that it would be Richard Linklater. With a striking friendship between the two that has resulted in some brilliant pieces of cinema, the Linklater/Hawke collab is one that will transcend the ages.
