Ethan Hawke reveals why he relates to his ‘hot mess’ character in ‘The Lowdown’
You know, I’m one of those actors who insists that I really get hit, you know, and it’s, you know, No, no, no, no, not at all. I’m I’m not the Tom Cruz of the crime genre. No. Uh, I love it because I think it’s funny, you know, the history of of the hero of film noir is, you know, whether you’re Jack Nicholson in Chinatown with the bandage up nose, the whole movie, this is long history of if you go seeking the truth, you’re going to get punched in the face. you know, that’s just that’s just Lee’s job. Yeah. And so I I found it incredibly funny. I love somebody who’s willing to face danger without playing a tough guy. He’s not a tough guy. He’s just willing to do whatever it takes. No, really. Ethan was the the top pick. And uh it’s funny because I sent him the script just asking for We had been friends at this point and collaborated and worked together. And I sent him the script just kind of asking for notes cuz I was too afraid to just say, “Do you want to play this part?” You know, cuz I I feel like I was like new to this industry. I don’t know how that works, you know, whatever. A lot of us hit our early 20s, you know, full of dreams of ideas of what the world is about, what it’s supposed to be, and all the compromises that start getting involved with being an adult. And I’ve always kind of admired people that don’t give up on that side of themsel and and and keep wanting to be the person that they dreamed they could have been when they were 16, you know, and uh but that doesn’t integrate very well with the box that society wants us to be in and and meeting all your responsibilities and and he’s a believer, you know, and he’s a hot mess, you know, he has immense blind spots. about him, things about himself he does not see, you know, and um and that to me is real life. I had an amazing stepfather um who um just didn’t really enjoy the way society works and was really allergic to the lies of popular culture. and he would frustrated with how everybody was oriented around making money as if that was going to get us into heaven and um why we weren’t taking care of our brothers and sisters and you know he was an inspiring person to be around and his ethics got him into a lot of personal drama. Uh he would say the thing you’re not supposed to say and was it true? It was true. Was it the right time? Maybe it wasn’t the right time. But when is the right time? usually never. Um, and so I I I had a lot of personal things. A lot of people you grow up with um in the arts, like when I was first starting a theater company, it’s a lot of idealism and that idealism gets knocked down as soon as people start having children. Um, a a lot of a lot of dreams die. And there’s some people that somehow just they just keep keep crawling back. And I I love people like that.
In Ethan Hawke’s new show “The Lowdown,” he looks increasingly rough the first few episodes, as his face gets cut and bruised.
“You know, I’m one of those actors who insists that I really get hit,” Hawke, 54, joked to The Post.
“No, I’m not the Tom Cruise [type]. I love it because I think it’s funny,” the Oscar-nominated actor added.
He cited other “film noir” characters, such as Jack Nicholson in “Chinatown,” who has a “bandaged nose” the whole movie. “There’s a long history of, ‘if you go seeking the truth, you’re going to get punched in the face.’”
Referring to his character in “The Lowdown,” Lee Raybon, Hawke said, “that’s just Lee’s job. And so, I found it incredibly funny. I love somebody who’s willing to face danger without playing a tough guy. He’s not a tough guy. He’s just willing to do whatever it takes.”
Read more at https://nypost.com/2025/09/23/entertainment/why-ethan-hawke-relates-to-his-hot-mess-character-in-the-lowdown-video/
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