After landing his fifth Oscar nomination this morning for the Sony Pictures Classics drama Blue Moon — his first for Best Actor — Ethan Hawke spoke with Deadline about the forthcoming second season of his FX series The Lowdown, his new Sundance film The Weight, a speech he’ll be making at the festival in honor of its late founder Robert Redford, and more.
Speaking with us from New York, a day out from his trip to Sundance, Hawke said that Sterlin Harjo’s Western noir crime dramedy The Lowdown, in which he plays “man who knows too much” Lee Raybon, will go back into production right after the Oscars in March.
“I’m going to have to leave the parties early. I can’t wait,” Hawke shared. ” I love working with Sterlin, I love that show, and I can’t wait to go back to that well.”
Hawke explained that he and Harjo are aiming to make each season of The Lowdown feel like “its own little crime novel.”
Speaking to his Sundance pic The Weight, Hawke said, “The director of that [Padraic McKinley] was a friend I made on The Good Lord Bird, and we’ve kind of been dreaming about, why does nobody make an old-fashioned action movie anymore? The character-driven action movie. It just was a character I really wanted to play, in a world I really liked.:
Hawke said he plans to pay tribute to Sundance founder Redford tomorrow and gave us a bit of a preview.
‘To say he’s a North Star is to undermine the light that he shined,” the actor said of Redford. “He was a person who was given a lot, and he gave back a lot, and it’s a model of leadership. A person who carried themselves with dignity and concern for others and contributed in a very high level, consistently, while pushing the industry itself forward.”
On the one hand, Hawke said, “there’s his work as an actor and a filmmaker and all that,” and on the other, “there’s just simply the accomplishment of starting such a meaningful film festival.”
Hawke added, “He’s also the first person I ever heard talk about the environment, and he was so vocal about spreading out voices and getting to hear from everyone. He was such a great leader in that way — and he didn’t have to do that.”
While the word has been that Hawke and Blue Moon filmmaker Richard Linklater would be celebrating Redford together in Park City, Hawke now isn’t so sure.
“We thought we were, but I think I’m speaking at one Redford tribute and he’s speaking at a different Redford tribute,” he said. “Because I’m coming out Friday night and he doesn’t get out there till Monday or Tuesday. I think he’s doing a talk about the Sundance Labs or something, and I’m doing a talk about [Redford], the man.”
Hawke’s Oscar nomination recognized his performance as Lorenz Hart, part of the hit songwriting team Rodgers & Hart, opposite the likes of Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley and Bobby Cannavale. He called Blue Moon the culmination of a 30-year friendship, saying, “It was never a job. I feel like I’ve somehow cracked some unbreakable code by getting to make work that is really personally meaningful with some of my best friends in the world, and have people notice it and see it and enjoy it. It seems almost like a magic trick.”
As far as what is so special about his relationship with Linklater that has led to such an enduring partnership, across projects like the Before trilogy, Boyhood and much more, Hawke said, “It’s like the mystery of any relationship. I don’t know. If you think too much about it, it’d probably go away.”
Hawke continued, “It’s not lost on me that one of my best friends that I made 30 years ago happens to be one of the defining cinematic voices of our generation. It’s not lost on me, my good fortune in choosing friends. I like to think I carry my weight, but he’s really a different thinker and has a truly unique voice. He shoots incredibly straight, and being his friend is great, and getting to work together is even better.”
As to his Oscar nomination, Hawke called it greatly meaningful, particularly given how difficult it is to break into the Best Actor race.
Speaking to his ambitions as he looks ahead, Hawke shared, “I’ve got so many pipe dreams, man. You know, my motto to myself is, ‘One lifetime is not enough.’ There’s so many brilliant young people I want to work with, and so many heroes I haven’t worked with. I want to work with Rick again, and I love working with Sterlin. I want to do Shakespeare in the Park and I want to do a bald-faced comedy. I’ve got a million things I want to do.”
Hawke’s prior Oscar nominations came for the films Boyhood (2015), Before Midnight (2014), and Before Sunset (2005) — all helmed by Linklater — as well as Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day (2002). In his first time out in Best Actor, he’ll be up against Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners), and Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent).
At this year’s Oscars, taking place on March 15, Blue Moon will also compete for Best Original Screenplay, with its script by Robert Kaplow.
