While breaking down his career with vanity fairActor Ethan Hawke, four-time Oscar nominee, recalled his work in Sidney Lumet’s latest film, Before the devil knows you’re deadalongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, in which the director pits the two against each other to enhance their performances.
The truth The actor explained that he and Hoffman had been friends for years, during which the teacher The actor brought Lumet to a play starring Hawke – the turning point that ultimately led to him being cast in the 2007 crime thriller.
“Phil was fantastic, and by that I mean he didn’t suffer fools lightly. He was one of those people who thought it was life or death whether we got the scene right or not. The stakes were high for him, and he could be very scary,” Hawke recalled of working with his late friend.
For Hawke, the key to unlocking his performance was a piece of wisdom that Hood star gave him; Although he sounded “bad”, Hawke maintained that he was not, as Hoffman was telling him that the reason Hawke had trouble understanding his character was because he was trying to play him as an “alpha”, although that trait suited Hoffman’s role more.
“And for some reason it all fell into place. It’s like he started a dynamic between the two of us that was right. Power and status between brothers, in society, everything plays a role,” he said. training day said the student.
In Before the devil knows you’re deadIndebted broker Andy (Hoffman) involves his younger brother (Hank) in the perfect crime: robbing their parents’ jewelry store, triggering a series of catastrophic consequences that upend the entire family. Just a few years before the film was made, it was Hawke, who had been a child actor and was already starring in movies while Hoffman was still in acting classes with mutual friends, who had the most influence in Hollywood.
“And now it was Philip Seymour Hoffman, Academy Award winner, and he’s choosing me,” he said. blue moon said the star. “You know, the power dynamic had changed, and I wasn’t going to let it change. And there’s a similar air between Andy and Hank, and Sidney Lumet fanned the flames. I’d come in in the morning and Sidney would say, ‘I saw the papers last night.'” [sucks teeth]. Phil is so good. He is so good. You know, not since Marlon Brando have I seen work like that. And I was like, ‘Yeah, great, great.’ And were my things there? ‘Oh, yes, yes, it was good. I mean, it must be a real honor to work with him.’”
He continued: “After the movie was over, I walked up to Phil and said, ‘You know, this has been a great experience, but I’m really glad it’s over.’ I said, ‘Because if I have to hear that old dog say that one more time, I haven’t seen a job like this since Marlon Brando…’ and Phil says, ‘Did he say that to you?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ He says, ‘He told me that every day about you.’”
When the co-stars finally confronted Lumet, the late filmmaker commented, “‘You guys are so easy to play it’s unbelievable.'”
Watch the full video interview with vanity fair below:
