An Interview with Ethan Hawke (continued)

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So are you doing Hurlyburly [David Rabe's 1984 play, which Hawke is starring in until 5 March], on stage now, to get away from roles where you pick up a gun and kill people?
No, I don't think about it like that. I'm doing Hurlyburly, because it's an opportunity that's never been presented to me before. And I want to do it. I've always been interested in theatre. To my mind, all of these projects are in keeping with my sensibilities. How it comes off, I don't know.

Are you nervous about doing the play?
Uh, I'm always nervous!

So why Hurlyburly?
I felt like doing something really hard, to be honest. It's pushed the walls of my skills. I felt like really applying myself. So I'm really enjoying that aspect of it. It's very dark. And it's sometimes interesting to play characters that aren't likable. Because it's fun, and it's incredibly challenging. That's why I do it.

Did you ever see the Assault On Precinct 13 John Carpenter original?
I did see it when I was, like, 19. But I haven't seen it since. I don't even remember it that well. I remember that I liked it. For some reason, I didn't feel inclined to watch it again.

Why so?
I don't know why, but I didn't feel that I wanted to. But this movie is aspiring to be a kind of modern western, somewhat. And I like those old kinda movies. The reason I haven't done many action movies before is they tend not to have very many interesting characters any more. But when I was growing up, they did. Bullitt, Popeye Doyle, even Dirty Harry, they were all these complicated guys. And it was fun to be in a cop movie that had all these great characters, you know? That makes it fun to do. For me, it keeps things different.

What do you think of the original Precinct 13?
It's a peculiar film. Because a lot of people don't have any idea that it exists. And then the people that love it are fanatical about it, and feel that it's some kind of sacrilege to even make this movie. It's a peculiar thing.

How about working with the director of this movie, Jean-François Richet?
Well, he was French. And his English... wasn't much better than my French! But he did a smart thing, he hired a bunch of NY theatre actors to be in the movie because he wanted people that he knew could bring a lot to it. And I don't know, we were all flattered by that. And enjoyed working with each other. A lot of us. So it was a very enjoyable movie to make.

Because he's a French director, do you see this new version in any way as a French view of American society?
I think that would be overstepping it. All it really is, it's a giant anti-authoritarian movie. Which it was in the '70s, and it is now. And which is what I think is fun about it. I don't give that to the French, they don't have ownership of anti-authority, although they've enjoyed that position, for sure!

What are your favorite DVDs right now?
I don't know, they change.

Well, what have you gotten lately?
I got Cassavetes, for Christmas. I wonder if they'll do remakes of some of his movies. But I'm not a huge DVD collector. I like to go to the revival houses, as few as there are.

Talk about your mom, and her work for US Aid.
Well, my mother, which I'm sure you don't know, was in the Peace Corps for about four years. And then she left the Peace Corps, and she was stationed in Romania. And she started a shelter for gypsy women there, and a day-care centre for children. And she's been doing a lot of fantastic work with the impoverished people there. She just got this huge grant from US AID, which is a real triumph for her. It's going to allow her to keep running this home, and everything. So it's kind of thrilling to watch somebody you love put five years of their life into something. Well, now she's gonna be able to put 20 more years into it, I guess!

How do you feel about the awards buzz for Before Sunset?
Yeah, it's nice that people remember the movie, and that they liked the movie. I was just so happy to get it made. I saw it as such a victory, I had been trying to make it for nine years. So I felt so happy, just to have made it. Then to be on critics' lists is very rewarding. You know, with journalists keeping it in the kind of collective conscious. So after that, there was no disappointment. I mean, I never expected it to perform at the box office, that's not why you make a movie like that. It's just a movie with two people. And it would be nice to get awards for not acting!

What are you writing at the moment?
I'm trying to write a third book.

What is it about?
I don't know yet! I really don't. It's like two books that I'm trying to write, and one of them is gonna win! But I don't know yet. I know the theme of what I'm writing about, but I don't have anything to say about it yet. It will probably be years before I'm done with it.

What do you see in your future?
You know, I'm 34 years old. I just hope to do a lot of interesting things in my life.

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