By Sandy Yang
Daily Bruin Staff
You know his name. Ethan Hawke has been a regular on the movie
scene since his breakthrough role as a shy student finding his
voice in 1989’s “Dead Poet’s Society.”
But in 12 years, the 29-year-old actor hasn’t lent his
name to projects that would likely explode as box office
blockbusters. Instead, Hawke appeared in 1995’s “Before
Sunrise,” 1998’s “Great Expectations” and
most recently, last winter’s “Snow Falling on
Cedars.”
You could even say these are art house films more likely to be
found on the Sundance Channel than HBO.
So, as clichéd as it seems, Hawke is an artist, a student
of acting perfecting his craft. He further affirms that purpose by
taking on every actor’s dream role ““
Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” ““ though not without
qualms.
“The play is so deep and rich and multi-faceted. Any actor
who approaches it seriously has something to offer,” said
Hawke in a recent phone interview. “Hamlet is most difficult
to portray in knowing what the hell you’re saying and
understanding the play well enough to offer it to the
audience.”
For Hawke and his co-stars, which include up-and-coming actors
Julia Stiles, who will also be seen in a modern update of
“Othello,” and Casey Affleck, translating Hamlet on the
big screen for the third time in 10 years isn’t about doing
the same old story again.
This “Hamlet” takes place in media-saturated,
cutting-edge New York City circa 2000, where the head of the
Denmark Corporation (Sam Shepherd) recently died. His wife marries
the suspected murderer, and Hamlet broods in his penthouse
apartment, looking at the world through a digital video camera.
Ophelia (Stiles) pines for the darkly handsome hero with the
boy-band hair. Hamlet’s father haunts the Denmark elevators.
And Fortinbras (Affleck) means trouble for the Corporation, whose
business struggles are reported on the front page of USA Today.
The film, however, keeps the Shakespearean diction, making it
far from a Cliff’s Notes version of the productions done by
acclaimed Shakespearean directors such as Laurence Olivier, Franco
Zeffirelli and Kenneth Branagh.
According to Hawke, this version also comments on today’s
society, as represented by Hamlet’s camera, which displays
images the audience take for granted as the truth. The film
explores this theme further by bombarding the city with
advertisements, swarming Hamlet’s world while he tries to
uncover the truth.
“I don’t think it’s a great idea to approach
modernizations,” Hawke admitted. “But I think this
piece lent itself to a modern setting… We’re swimming in a
swamp of advertisement, struggling to find the authentic. Hamlet
was finding his own voice, his own thing to do. Life is fragile,
inundated with advertisements and voices, telling us who we are; it
has a profound effect on us.”
Going back to his own career, Hawke doesn’t measure his
success by box office numbers. Working in a business that is
symmetrical to his character’s image-filled, profit-driven
world, Hawke retains perspective for his craft. His favorite movie
he’s done remains “Before Sunrise,” a story about
an American (Hawke) and a French woman (Julie Delpy) who meet in
Europe, fall in love and spend one night with each other before
they part. The independent film only made $5.4 million in theaters,
but received much critical acclaim.
Hawke, however, isn’t disappointed by the low figures.
“Until five or six years ago, we didn’t print box
office totals, but we as a culture have made it like a sporting
event, about which one is number one and number two,” Hawke
said. “We shouldn’t judge art that way.”
He has somehow managed to balance his busy acting career with
his job as father and husband. Hawke, who married actor Uma Thurman
in 1998, always makes time for their daughter, Maya.
In addition to acting, he has taken up several other art forms.
He is currently directing a movie called “Last Word on
Paradise” and has written a novel titled “The Hottest
State.” Hawke is now working on his second novel, which he
hopes to adapt for the screen.
Though many are not aware of Hawke’s newer projects, he
doesn’t seem to be a person who needs instant gratification
in the form of fame and money.
“You make art for other people and if a lot of people
didn’t get a movie, we didn’t do it well enough,”
Hawke said.
Then again, “Time decides what art is,” said this
year’s version of Hamlet.
FILM: “Hamlet” opens in Los Angeles theaters this
Friday.