15 Minutes of Ethan Hawke Dropping Gems on a Subway

I was once arrested for jumping the turnstile.

Really? Cops threw me against the wall, pushed me, shoved me in a closet, and then my my gate was screaming, "Let him out. Let him out." You know, and I'm like in the closet going, "Let me out."

They put you in the closet. They put me in a closet with all these other people.

Like a like a micro jail. It was just a closet.

So, what's your take? There is no such thing as your favorite Beatle. 100% disagree.

Disagree. Yeah, dude. Lennon's the best Beatle.

You've never heard of John Lennon without Paul McCartney. The magic of the Beatles. The reason why you care about John Lennon. The reason why I care about John Lennon is because of the chemistry. Are the Wings your favorite band?

The Wings?

Yeah.

No. No, they're not. Right.

How often do you sit and crush John Lennon's solo albums? Not too often, but often even McCartney's albums.

But this is not my point. You got to hear me out here. It's the combination that created the greatest rock band in the history of the world. To say I have a favorite Beatle is is to say I It's like saying I I have a favorite ventricle of my heart. It it it doesn't make any sense. Paul McCartney, one of the greatest musicians of all time, had to sing backup for All You Need Is Love.

Right? John Lennon had to play rhythm guitar and sing backup for Hey Jude. What's that? It's called humility, kids. It's called humility. All right. We see in them something larger than that. Which is a might these four young lads from Liverpool. Liverpool, forgive me all you Liverpoolians, is a shithole. All right. These guys came from a really tough place. They came from a really poor background and they changed the world because they believed in each other and took care of each other, right? And that's the message of the Beatles.

Now, do we feel the same way about the Gallagher brothers?

You have seemed to maintain an undeniably cool like indie vibe. You've straddled the line of like mainstream and and and this indie thing for so long. Like how do you choose what you're going to work on? That's a very complimentary question. So, first off, I should say I I appreciate that observation and I I hope that it's true. Um I think it has to do with where you place your priority. If your priority is what can I contribute, how can I be of value? It's a it's a more substantive priority because when you're chasing this cloud of of of cash, it it's really distracting cuz everybody wants cash. Everybody wants life to be easy. Nobody's bad for wanting that. It makes total sense. If there's 200 people on the subway, right, and it's my job to feed them all, shit I got to make some hot dogs, right? If if it's just her and him, I can say, "What do you like to eat?" And I can make a really great meal and I can have a really s a meal that nourishes you and and leaves you with something. So when you start writing specifically or performing specifically for a specific audience, for like-minded people,

then you're going to make less money because you're going to serve less people.

Yeah. But then you can be proud of the work you did over time. But let me tell you, it's hard

because you say no to doing National Treasure

and then you then you end up broke and then if you you got to pay to play like if people don't see your work, you don't get a chance to play anymore.

So, do you think of it as like a one for me, one for them, or is it always like it's always a hybrid? Like this is kind of them and me at the same time cuz your your projects like like the the Before Trilogy or Boyhood like they're incredible. I mean, they're incredible incredible films and projects, but they've had a significant a good amount of commercial success, but also are critically acclaimed and also beloved by audiences, you know, but they're not blockbusters. Yeah, but I didn't get paid to do one,

right? And but it was a 13-year commitment,

which is shit crazy. You can make great commercial art then it's not a zero it's not one for them one for me it's not a zero sum game it's like how can you put into the world in the most successful way things that you believe in and how can you compromise enough where you're not losing your heartbeat you're not losing the sound of your own voice but you're not so arrogant as to think that you know everything and I I do it makes me so happy to make a movie that people enjoy.

Yeah. You know, I mean, like you mentioned before, Sunrise, people love it.

You know, if we played Before Sunrise for your average like audience at a mall, half the people would walk out. They would hate it.

Yeah. They would hate it. Right. And and a eighth of the people would say, "I want to see that again." Yeah.

Something about balance is what we're all looking for. I mean, I think that's the thing about being a grown-up is trying to find some sense of balance where you can hold opposing truths, keep marching, and keep doing your best. And that's probably the hardest thing about becoming a grown-up is the balancing act. There are more things to balance. There are there are more people to balance. You're balancing against a ticking clock. When you're young, there's no clock, but as you get older, I feel like that that I mean, it shrinks. That's been the hardest thing for me. Yeah. A aging you think like or the time?

Just the time. All my heroes are always old. So I I I being an old man didn't bother me. It's the whole loss of time. And I when I was a kid, when I was I used to, you know, I'd be learning my lines for an audition on a subway like this. And I just felt like I had all the time in the world. Like you don't get a part, big deal. These knuckleheads don't know what they're to miss. You know, it's easy to have that attitude. And now I feel like a 40-year-old basketball player sitting on the bench going, "Put me in, coach. These knees aren't going to last long. Put me in, coach. I can still make a play."

I mean, you know, and and so there is a sense of like, "How many at bats do I get?"

Yeah. You know, and that's that that clock is very loud in my head.

You're nominated for four Academy Awards.

Is it in your brain that you're Cuz this I I fall into this trap of like my next project I want to win an Emmy. But like for you, is that is that even a conversation that's happening in your head or are you just like I'm just going to do my job and hopefully people like it and hopefully it gets me there. Society thinks about it so much that I think you're lying if you say you don't think about it. Like you. I try not to give I try not to let that voice be really loud in my head because um I think about Sonny Rollins. I think about um all the great musicians, all the great artists. You know, the list of great artists that haven't won the Emmy or haven't won the Oscar, haven't won the prize is really long. Time is the best critic. Like it like nothing makes me happier than some 22-year-old coming up to me in 2025 and talking about Before Sunrise. That's awesome. That that that is that is an award,

you know, cuz there's a lot of movies that won Oscars in 1994 that ain't nobody talking about. Yeah.

Right. And so I have to keep that in my head and also know that society respects money. Society respects prizes. Society respects power. And we all covet respect. So where I try to put it on is the respect of my peers. The fact that you would say that to the question you asked me when we started. Well, when I was 22, that would be a dream question that somebody would ask my 55-year-old self. You know, I love when you watch Bob Dylan now. What is he? He's 80 something. But

he's he's exactly the old man that that young kid would have wanted to be. Just

he's translated. He he's he's maintained the integrity of himself. He knows himself. He's taken care of that. And and I think if you make that your