Ethan Hawke was warned about collaborating with Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp on Hollywood projects. The warning had to do with famous director Peter Weir who apparently took 12 years of absence from Hollywood because of the two stars.
Peter Weir is a famed filmmaker from Australia. He was a leading figure in the Australian New Wave cinema movement, with many prominent films such as mystery drama ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’, supernatural thriller ‘The Last Wave‘, and historical drama ‘Gallipoli’. So, what drove him into retirement? Ethan Hawke revealed Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp had a hand in Weir’s decision.
Read More: Ethan Hawke Says Marvel Is “Extremely Actor-Friendly, Not Director-Friendly”
Ethan Hawke Says Director Peter Weir Retired Due To Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp
Peter Weir used to make films, documentaries, and TV shows in his native country, Australia. In the mid-1980s, he moved to the U.S. and made many hit movies with Harrison Ford like ‘Witness’ and ‘The Mosquito Coast’. He also received six Academy Award nominations in his career.
Ethan Hawke spoke to IndieWire about the sixth part of the HBO Max documentary ‘The Last Movie Stars’ based on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. During the interview, he was asked about his ‘Dead Poets Society’ director Peter Weir. The actor revealed the reason the filmmaker hasn’t made a movie since 2010’s ‘The Way Back’.
He said – “I think he lost interest in movies. He really enjoyed that work when he didn’t have actors giving him a hard time. Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp broke him.”
The actor added, “He’s someone so rare these days, a popular artist. He makes mainstream movies that are artistic… I think Harrison Ford and Gerard Depardieu were his sorts of actors. They were director-friendly and didn’t see themselves as important.”
As for ‘The last Movie Stars’, other than Hawke, the docuseries also features contributions from Martin Scorsese, George Clooney, Sally Field, Laura Linney, and many more.
Hawke Comments On Tom Cruise’s Luck With Oscars
Ethan Hawke was also asked about the appeal of awards since he has received Oscar nominations but never took the trophy home. He said, “John Coltrane never won a prize. There are benchmarks that society likes, but they can’t be benchmarks for the artist because then you’re just lost.”
He then gave the example of Tom Cruise and Gwenyth Paltrow and their tryst with the Oscars. Hawke said, “I wonder if Tom Cruise won the Oscar for ‘Magnolia’, would it have changed the trajectory of his career? It kind of seems like he gave up on chasing approval from the industry and just did his own thing. That’s probably a good thing for him, but sometimes I wish they gave him more prizes for ‘Magnolia’ so that he had done it again. Then again, I find these things so mysterious. If Gwyneth (Paltrow) hadn’t won the Oscar for ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ would we have gotten 50 more better performances? Sometimes the yearning gets satiated and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Read More: “That Was A Mistake”: ‘Friends’ Director Regrets Using Wrong Pronouns For Chandler’s Trans Parent
