Ethan Hawke reveals advice Denzel Washington gave him after missing out on Oscar
Back in 2002, actor Ethan Hawke was nominated in the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ category at the Academy Awards for his effort in the crime thriller Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua and co-starring Denzel Washington, but it didn’t go to plan for the actor.
Notably, Hawke lost out on the award to Jim Broadbent and his performance in Iris. On the night, Hawke’s co-star Washington offered him some advice on how to get over his loss and keep moving his career forward.
When appearing on the Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? show, Hawke revealed exactly what Washington had told him at the Oscars ceremony in 2002: “It’s better than you didn’t win. Losing was better.”
“‘You don’t want an award to improve your status. You want to improve the award’s status.’ That’s the way he thinks,” Hawke explained. The actor had compared his Training Day co-star to iconic baseball player Babe Ruth.
“That’s what I’m talking about playing with Babe Ruth,” Hawke brought up. “The Academy Award has more power, because Denzel has a couple. It didn’t elevate who he was. When all is said and done he’s the greatest actor of our generation.”
Hawke explained that the experience of working with Washington changed his career and outlook on his profession, noting how his imagination in acting “is so complete”.
Going on to draw further parallels between Washington and Ruth, Hawke noted, “I imagine it would be interesting to see how Babe Ruth tied his shoes. You know how he thought about various pitchers. But what creates that is a tremendous amount of energy and thought, right, what creates those moments and once you see somebody working that way, it is like entrance there’s all these other rooms that you can go into in the profession.”
According to Hawke, it was impowering to understand the level of dedication that Ruth put into baseball, only with its analogue in acting through Washington. “That was really inspiring to me to see my chosen profession done at that level,” he said.
Still, Hawke feels that he would have somewhat enjoyed winning the Academy Award regardless of Washington’s advice, even though he was grateful to have been sitting next to him and being nominated alongside other excellent actors.
“I mean, yeah, I guess. I mean, I wouldn’t,” Hawke said in conflict. “I was at the Oscars sitting next to Denzel Washington and nominated against Ian McKellen. I had already won. It was impossible for me not to see it any other way.”
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