NEW YORK – Thirty-five years ago, Ethan Hawke couldn’t get out of the woods fast enough.
At 19, the actor spent six months in Alaska filming 1991’s “White Fang,” an experience that was equal parts “incredible” and “grueling.”
“I saw a 2,000-pound bear,” Hawke recalls on a recent visit to USA TODAY’s studio. “I was chased by a moose, watched eagles rip salmon from the water and had week-long delays because of snow. … I found myself in the middle of nowhere thinking, ‘How can I get back to New York theater?’ ”
Now, Hawke is once again braving the elements in “The Weight” (in theaters Sept. 18), a heart-pounding wilderness thriller set in 1930s Oregon. The five-time Oscar nominee plays down-on-his-luck widower Samuel Murphy, who is separated from
his young daughter, Penny (Avy Berry), and sent to a labor camp after a skirmish with police.
While there, an unscrupulous warden (Russell Crowe) offers him early release if he smuggles gold out of a remote mine. And over a days-long trek through the mountains, Murphy is faced with tempestuous rivers, punishing weather and betrayal by his fellow prisoners.
After directing the 2022 Paul Newman docuseries “The Last Movie Stars,” Hawke, 55, was eager to make his own movie in the vein of Newman’s “Hud” and “Cool Hand Luke.”
“I really wanted to play an old-fashioned manifestation of masculinity at its finest,” Hawke says. “My grandfather was a Depression-era kid who knew about everything: He could fix a car, make dinner, and speak intelligently about civil rights and human equality. He would say, ‘Paying taxes is the best thing I get to do every year. It’s a way I can feel responsible for making sure the neighbors’ kids have a good education and that nobody’s hungry.’
“I saw in Murphy an opportunity to play that kind of role model,” he adds. “Yeah, he's going to make mistakes, but then he's going to respond in the right way.”
Why 'The Weight' is so personal to Ethan Hawke as a dad
Murphy’s dogged pursuit to reunite with Penny is at the heart of “The Weight.” That fierce love is something Hawke understands well as a dad of four with his ex, Uma Thurman, and his wife of 18 years, Ryan Shawhughes: Maya (28), Levon (24), Clementine (18) and Indiana (15).
Maya and Levon are both following in his footsteps as actors, recently appearing in rom-com “One Night Only” and ping-pong drama “Marty Supreme,” respectively.
“Being the father to a young man is challenging in a different way,” Hawke says of Levon. “I’m probably harder on him because I see myself in him. But all my children, they open your heart. They give you a reason to live. When you’re young, you have this idealism of aspiring to be somebody. Then life happens and compromises happen, and the world is more complicated or love works differently than you thought it would. And then you find yourself with these children and you’re reminded of those ideals again.”
Hawke credits his kids for turning him onto Taylor Swift and The Strokes’ new album, “Reality Awaits,” while he makes certain that they’re well-versed in Old Hollywood classics.
“I insisted my daughter watch ‘The Philadelphia Story’ the other night just to make sure she knows who Katharine Hepburn is,” Hawke says. He sees it as a two-way street with children: “They expose your hypocrisies and they challenge you to listen to new music and to discover new dances and read different books and expose ways in which your mind is closed because they're growing up in a different generation. … Kids really do help push growth along.”
Ethan Hawke reflects on 'Boyhood,' enduring friendship with Richard Linklater
Four decades into his career, Hawke remains as prolific as ever: His FX crime comedy series “The Lowdown” returns for a second season Oct. 14. The Austin, Texas, native portrays Lee Raybon, an Oklahoma bookstore owner moonlighting as an investigative journalist.
“Lee might be my favorite character I've ever played,” Hawke says. “[He’s] a hot mess. I see him as a kind of Don Quixote. He's an extravagant character who is silly and well-meaning and stupid.”
This summer, he celebrated the 12-year anniversary of “Boyhood,” a gently profound coming-of-age drama filmed over a dozen years with his frequent collaborator, director Richard Linklater.
“It has weathered the sands of time extremely well because it’s about time,” Linklater says. “So many films try to make life so much more interesting than it is, and ‘Boyhood’ celebrates real life. It’s my favorite expression: ‘It’s not a miracle to walk on water − it’s a miracle to walk.’ ”
Hawke and Linklater have made nine movies together beginning with 1995’s “Before Sunrise” and culminating in last year’s “Blue Moon,” for which Hawke was nominated for a best actor Oscar. The showbiz drama traces the fractured relationship between composer Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) and lyricist Lorenz Hart (Hawke), a closeted gay man and alcoholic. Naturally, the film forced Hawke to ponder his own partnership with Linklater.
“We really enjoy working together,” Hawke says. “So much is made about romance, but our friendships are the ground we walk on.”
The duo has a couple more projects they’d like to tackle together, although “our ambitions are getting grander and harder to achieve,” Hawke says. While he has picked up many skills on film sets over the years, listening and patience are the core values he keeps coming back to.
“I'm glad to say that none of my firearms training has proved valuable in my daily life,” Hawke says. “And I love horseback riding − that’s been a great thing in my life that's come from the movies. But really, the joy of performance has to do with interacting with other actors. That helps you interact with other human beings.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ethan Hawke says fatherhood gave him 'a reason to live'
