The performance Ethan Hawke will always be jealous of: “That guy took my Oscar”
Imagine waking up in the morning and being Ethan Hawke. You’re a successful and beloved actor, having appeared in a wide range of movies without ever properly selling out. You used to be married to Uma Thurman, and your daughter, Maya, is on her way to becoming as big a star as you. Your voice can be found on a Fall Out Boy album, you’re best pals with Richard Linklater, and you have a really, really cool name. Life is pretty great.
Even so, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Hawke-ster. He missed a massive opportunity early in his career when he could have taken over the role of Batman after Michael Keaton walked away. Not all of his films have been the ‘Before’ trilogy. His movie debut, Joe Dante’s Explorers, was crushed at the box office by Back to the Future, and he’s also appeared in the lacklustre remake of The Magnificent Seven and the mind-numbingly poor Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
Then there’s the small matter of the Oscars. Hawke has been nominated four times for an Academy Award. Two of these were for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’, which he landed for co-writing the scripts for Before Sunset and Before Midnight. As for his acting nods, he was up for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in 2002 for Training Day and then the same prize 13 years later for his work in Boyhood. He didn’t win on either occasion, but in the case of the second one, he completely understands why.
Speaking with E! News, the star was asked about his recent defeat. “I saw that movie, Whiplash; it was so good,” he said. “I walked out and my wife said, ‘How do you like it?’ ‘Oh, it was great.'” When his wife asked him why he sounded so upset after seeing such a brilliant film, Hawke replied, “‘That guy just took my Oscar.’ I really knew it. The guy is brilliant in that movie. I love that movie.”
The ‘guy’ Hawke is referring to here is obviously J K Simmons. He scooped ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in 2015 for his outstanding turn as Terrence Fletcher in Damian Chazelle’s twisted tale of ambition and jazz. As the tyrannical leader of a prestigious school band, Fletcher ruthlessly pushes his students to be the best, with protagonist Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) bearing the brunt of his fury. It’s a true tour de force performance, from his very first scene to the movie’s breathtaking finale.
He may have taken the defeat well, but a part of Hawke had to be annoyed that one of his best-ever performances was against such stiff competition. As Mason Evans Sr in Boyhood, he serves as the father of the protagonist Mason Jr (Ellar Coltrane). Throughout the real-time masterpiece, Mason Sr is a recurring feature of his son’s life, dropping in to offer advice and a shoulder to cry on. He doesn’t always get things right, but fathers rarely do. Hawke’s beautifully natural portrayal of a dad doing his best is one of the many highlights of Linklater’s remarkable feat.
Unfortunately, there was no universe in which Hawke was going to come out on top here. Simmons thoroughly deserved his prize, but if this had been any other year, the outcome would have been very different.
