Ethan Hawke Talks Getaway, Sci-Fi Film Predestination And Cymbeline

In a recent interview to collider, actor Ethan Hawke talked about making his own stunts in Getaway, what drove (no pun intended) him to the project, making franchise movies, his new movie sci-fi movie Predestination and Michael Almereyda’s e on Shakespeare Cymbeline.

“Collider: Obviously you’ve done a huge number of films with varied roles; where does Getaway rank in the most fun you’ve had while filming?

Ethan Hawke: Part of the reason to do this movie was it seemed like it would be fun. I secretly love cars and I wanted an excuse to do a movie that was … it’s extremely simple. There was something that appealed to me about sitting in one car, it’s so simple. Basically, for the whole movie, it’s one car chase. I’m in this seat and I drive around. I went out to this mid-Ohio racetrack and I went out there to get taught a little bit about how to maybe do some of these stunts. I’ve always fantasized about doing the thing you see in movies where you floor it in reverse and then slam on the brakes and spin around, there’s got to be a name for it, but it’s incredibly fun to do that stuff. In truth, it always ends up being a lot more work and it always ends up being a lot more tedious than you want it to be, but the fun was part of the reason to do the film.

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You’ve done a lot of these modestly-budgeted films lately that have had huge box offices and they’re fun films, too.  Is there a possibility of signing on for a franchise with any of your recent films?

Hawke: The funny thing about Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, my joke about that is that it’s the lowest-grossing trilogy in the history of cinema, you know?  No, I always envy these guys, like Ralph Fiennes who’s in the Harry Potter and now Bond movies, or Matt Damon who’s in the Bourne movies, I envy those guys to have a steady quality job that then you can help finance the rest of your artistic life, but I’ve never really found it. I think part of it is, I’m not really usually terribly drawn to mainstream material. Even this movie, it’s extremely mainstream, but there’s something so weird about it, just the fact that it’s only in one car made me like it. It’s different.

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Has your success with recent genre films changed the scripts that are coming across your desk or your opinion on what you’d like to try next?

Hawke: It does. I’ve been doing this long enough now that you watch the way a career ebbs and flows. When I did Dead Poets Society, people thought I was a prep school kid and they thought that if I wanted to play a cop or something, “You can’t be that!” And then I did Reality Bites and it’s the whole Gen-X thing, and then Training Day and then all of a sudden, “Oh! You’re in cop movies!” There’s these waves. Certainly, when you have success in something … I’ve always had an interest in so-called drive-in, grindhouse movies like Sinister and The Purge; if you can make a good one, it’s a really fun thing. Now I get sent those things all the time and nobody ever used to send those to me! I’m sure the second you do a Western, probably everybody just wants you to do Westerns if they’re a success. I look at it like chapters. There have been these weird chapters in my career and frankly I’m grateful that … the business and the industry keeps changing so much, I’m grateful to be around.

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Any projects you’re looking at that have a sci-fi bent to it? Would you like to get back into sci-fi in the future?

Hawke: Yeah I just finished a movie called Predestination with the guys who did Daybreakers. It’s based on a 1950s Robert Heinlein short story called, “All You Zombies”. It’s not about zombies, it’s about time travel. I’m so excited about this movie and those guys are huge Gattaca fans too. The script, anyway, was so smart and so interesting. The woman that I worked with, her name is Sarah Snook …she gave one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever been a part of on screen. I can’t wait for people to see it. It’s a real mind fuck. If you like Gattaca and Before Midnight, you will like this movie. I don’t know whether the rest of the world will, but I loved it.

I’m actually getting really close to … Andrew Niccol and I are going to do another film together. It’s not science-fiction, but everything Andrew does, even Lord of War and even though it’s real, he always has a unique hit on it. He makes normal life seem like science-fiction in some strange way. I’m excited about that.

Can you talk a bit about your upcoming role in Cymbeline?

Hawke: Cymbeline … Michael Almereyda directed me in Hamlet and Ed Harris is playing Cymbeline and I’m playing a smaller part in that film. That starts tomorrow. We start shooting in Brooklyn tomorrow.

Excellent. So like Hamlet, it’s a contemporary take on a classic?

Hawke: Yeah, exactly. It’s reimagining Cymbeline with a motorcycle gang and some cops warring and a young woman caught in between.

What’s your role? You said it’s smaller but I’m not too familiar with the play.

Hawke: I’m playing Iachimo. It’s not that small, it’s not like a cameo or something, but it’s not Hamlet. The woman, her name is Dakota Johnson in the lead, she’s playing Imogen. I think she’s a neat young actress.“

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