Ethan Hawke’s career is testament to rare versatility and restless creative hunger. Initially a reluctant Gen X poster boy thanks to his early breakout roles, Hawke has matured into an award-winning actor, writer and director for stage and screen.

Ethan Hawke

Ethan’s love of music began at a very young age, when his piano-playing father introduced him to the basics of melody and chord progression. Recalling other formative encounters with sound (learning guitar from Robert Sean Leonard on the set of DEAD POETS SOCIETY; working with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy on the score for Ethan’s directorial debut, CHELSEA WALLS), he describes it as a universal form of expression: “Music is instantaneous. It doesn’t need language, it doesn’t have a class structure. Music breaks down so many of society’s walls, and it’s just so powerful.”

Ethan Hawke on Music

Always fascinated by performance, Ethan was ensorcelled by Marcel Carné’s 1945 theatrical spectacle. “CHILDREN OF PARADISE is a big-budget movie that is made for adults,” he says. “I just wish we got to see more of that.”

Ethan Hawke on Children of Paradise (1945)

“I was madly in love for the first time in my life when I saw that movie,” recalls Ethan of Jane Campion’s vivid biographical drama AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE. With its revelatory female gaze, the film sent him and his beloved hightailing to the bookstore for a copy of Janet Frame’s poetry.

Ethan Hawke on An Angel At My Table (1990)

“I think I’ve somehow internalized Bob Fosse in some strange way,” says Ethan, describing how the director’s obsession with performance informed his own filmmaking.

Ethan Hawke on All That Jazz (1979)

“If you’re an actor, your dream is to intersect with the great filmmaker and the opportunity to give a great performance,” says Ethan. Terrence Malick’s poetic crime noir, starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen, hits the bullseye.

Ethan Hawke on Badlands (1973)

The first movie Ethan ever saw was Bob Rafelson’s 1970 drama FIVE EASY PIECES, and its complex, emotionally honest characterizations have stuck with him ever since.

Ethan Hawke on Five Easy Pieces (1970)

“One of my friends said that a really great film starts as the end credits roll, because it rings a bell and it vibrates with you, and then it begins as you walk away from it.” For Ethan, Milos Forman’s 1975 classic continues to reverberate.

Ethan Hawke on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

For Ethan, all the pieces come together perfectly in Wim Wenders’s PARIS, TEXAS: “I dare anybody to make something better than that strip club scene.”

Ethan Hawke on Paris, Texas (1984)

Warren Beatty’s 1981 Russian Revolution–era drama, REDS, is a masterpiece that Ethan doesn’t want people to forget. The acting, photography, music and writing—“it’s like each appendage is doing its job to the point where you can’t tell where one begins and one ends,” he says.

Ethan Hawke on Reds (1981)

The indelible one-liners (which he committed to memory) of Alex Cox’s REPO MAN taught a young Ethan that this film didn't play by the usual rules: “There aren't many punk rock movies, and that is a punk rock movie.”

Ethan Hawke on Repo Man (1984)

While acknowledging that the younger generation can find black-and-white movies to be a slog, Ethan believes that THE LAST PICTURE SHOW—”so poetic, so funny, so unpretentious”—is an excellent starting point.

Ethan Hawke on The Last Picture Show (1971)

Ethan admires the deference to mysticism and respect for the world’s natural order in Peter Weir’s films, calling Linda Hunt’s turn as Tommy Kwan “one of the all-time great performances.” The actor studied THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY before working with Weir on DEAD POETS SOCIETY.

Ethan Hawke on The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

After feeling self-conscious during a conversation with directors and film buffs Quentin Tarantino and Richard Linklater, Ethan sought out a VHS tape of TWO-LANE BLACKTOP to see what the hype was about.

Curated by Ethan Hawke

From Ethan’s Collection

Additional References