The first movie that “really inspired” Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke is one of those quietly talented virtuosos that you underestimate at your peril. While he may not be a household name in terms of box office bankers, he is among his generation’s finest performers, a fantastic actor with incredible range and four Oscar nominations to accompany his glittering CV.
Hawke is a tremendous dramatic actor, evident from his shattering performance in First Reformed which should have won ‘Best Actor’ at the Oscars, but he wasn’t even nominated. Bringing his A-game to whichever role he has taken on, even lighter genre fare, he has always operated on a level that is far above the norm.
Sitting down with A.Frame to discuss the five movies that changed his life and were instrumental to his fantastic career, Hawke offered a peek behind his creative curtain. The first film he listed that “really inspired” him was Warren Beatty’s 1981 effort Reds, a historical epic chronicling the life of John Reed, an American journalist who reported on the 1917 Russian revolution.
Hawke, a self-professed romantic, recalls being very moved by the love story at its centre and hugely admiring the individual performances in the film, which received nominations in all four of the Oscar acting categories. He was also impressed by just how bold the movie was, coming out at a time when saying anything positive about communism was still taboo.
Reds isn’t a surprising choice for Hawke because, much like Reds, his own career has been filled with bold, unexpected choices. He has lent his talents to some strikingly creative, inventive projects – most notably Richard Linklater’s ambitious Boyhood, which was filmed over 12 years with the same cast – and as an actor, he’s never afraid to step outside his comfort zone.
For example, in 2021, Hawke, who has been a likeable romantic lead in so many films like the beloved Before Trilogy, played completely against type as a deranged serial killer of children in The Black Phone. This might’ve been a surprising role for Hawke, but he was absolutely terrifying in the movies, and this proved to be another shining testament to his versatility as a performer and his willingness to take risks.
“One of the first films that really inspired me was Warren Beatty’s Reds, with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson,” Hawke revealed. “I guess I’m a romantic, and there was something so powerful about that love story. It came out in 1981 when you couldn’t even talk about any positive elements of communism or the ideology behind it, and it seemed like such a dangerous movie when it came out. That he was going to make a movie about John Reed and the inspiration behind that movement and their love story, that was powerful to me. And the acting is so good in it!”
Watch the trailer below.
