The Hamptons International Film Festival featured an Ethan Hawke extravaganza on Saturday, starting with a screening of Richard Linklater’s film “Blue Moon” and continuing an hour later with Mr. Hawke in conversation with Alison Stewart, the host of the public radio show “WNYC’s All of It.” Both programs filled the capacious auditorium of the East Hampton Middle School.
“Blue Moon” stars Mr. Hawke as Lorenz Hart, the lyricist best known for his collaboration with the composer Richard Rodgers, played in the film by Andrew Scott. The entire film unfolds in Manhattan’s Sardi’s restaurant and bar on March 31, 1943, the night “Oklahoma!” opened on Broadway. What drives the drama is that “Oklahoma!” was the first collaboration between Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and a gut punch for Hart, whose alcoholism had driven a wedge between him and his longtime partner.
Mr. Hawke’s performance is a tour de force. His character is onscreen for the entire film, which takes place in real time, starting with Hart and the bartender (Bobby Cannavale) alone at the bar, awaiting the arrival of the after party that will celebrate the play’s reception. Hart expresses nothing but scorn for “Oklahoma!” — until Rodgers and Hammerstein and their entourage arrive, at which point he can’t praise it enough.
Mr. Hawke is virtually unrecognizable. While shot so that he appears short, as was Hart, partly bald with an obvious combover, and with brown contact lenses over his blue eyes, the physical transformation takes a back seat to his performance as a brilliant but complicated man on a downward spiral.
When Ms. Stewart asked Mr. Hawke to describe Lorenz Hart, he referred to his award-winning role as the Rev. Ernst Toller in the Paul Schrader film “First Reformed,” who says, “Wisdom is holding two opposing truths in your mind at the same time.”
“Hart’s a great example of that,” said Mr. Hawke. “He’s so many things at one time that are seeming opposites. He’s a small person and his ego is gigantic, he’s homosexual and he grew up with a woman, he’s bitter and he’s generous. He’s so many things at one time, and that’s what I found most intriguing about him.”
When asked how he went about researching the role, he explained that he had 12 years to do so. When Mr. Linklater, with whom Mr. Hawke has worked on nine films, sent him the script, “I said I think this is a movie and it’s a movie you should make. And he said, ‘Not yet.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘Because women still find you attractive.’ About a decade went by and he called me up and said he had seen me on Jimmy Fallon and that he thought I was ready to play Lorenz Hart.” The audience cracked up.
Robert Kaplow wrote the screenplay, which was informed in part by “A Ship Without a Sail: The Life of Lorenz Hart” by Gary Marmorstein. “The best research I could do was to go out and have coffee with Robert. He also gave me the biography, which is brilliantly written.”
Ms. Stewart asked what it was like to sustain a character over the course of one evening. “One of the things that’s cumbersome about film acting is that often you’re jumping around in time. Because Rick loves to rehearse we got to do this whole movie for the crew in one sitting. I found the time continuousness of this really helpful. It was like a spell you get into and never have to break.”
Mr. Hawke cited as one particularly important moment in the film when, near the end, Rodgers is leaving the party at Sardi’s with Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley), a beautiful blond Yale student with whom Hart has been flirting. Rodgers, Hart’s partner of 25 years with whom he’s madly in love and who’s leaving him, is walking out the door with Elizabeth, whom Hart’s also in love with.
“As they walked out the door I said goodbye to both of them, and it’s really unclear which one I’m talking to. She turns around first, then Rodgers turns around, then they both turn away and the door closes. You know a human being just died of heartbreak. He’s not going to recover from that. It’s devastating. I’ve been friends with Rick for a long time, and ‘Blue Moon’ is exactly the kind of movie he dreamed of making.”
As for Hart’s disparaging remarks about “Oklahoma!”, Mr. Hawke admitted he shared Hart’s opinion to an extent. “There’s one line I love. ‘The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye’ has to be the stupidest lyric in the American songbook. The image of a cornfield with an elephant!”
More seriously, Mr. Hawke noted that “Oklahoma!” symbolizes a transition America was making. “Oklahoma is Indian territory, but not only are there no people of color in the play, there are certainly no Native Americans. The play is nostalgic for a time period that did not, does not, will not, could not exist. Americans are starting to buy into their own myth about who we are. With ‘Oklahoma!’ Rodgers is pushing the world toward ‘The Sound of Music.’ The jazz age is ending.”
Of his relationship to Mr. Linklater, he said “I think a lot of good collaborations involve not playing the same instrument. We like each other enough to spend time together, but I’m an enthusiast. I’ll run at something. Link will stare at it for four weeks before he walks there. He’s very discerning.”
When they first met, Mr. Hawke was about 24 and hanging out with “a lot of people who found a certain self-destructive element sexy and romantic and compelling to the artist’s life. Rick has no interest in that. I remember him saying to me that if you look at the history of the arts and you see whose potential was met and whose was thwarted, the biggest enemy in most cases is within. Rick would say what happened to Rodgers and Hart was not much deeper than alcoholism. I think alcoholism is the symptom. So what is the root, where is the cut that needs to be healed?”
Asked if being a stage actor helped him in “Blue Moon,” Mr. Hawke said, “It’s not necessary, but it’s definitely ideal for any actor in any situation. It’s just harder. It’s like running in Santa Fe, where it’s harder to breathe, and when you come to a regular height it’s easier to run. That’s what acting onstage is like.”
As for the fact that Hart’s character basically talks nonstop throughout the film, Mr. Hawke said, “ ‘Hurley Burly’ is three times as long and I was onstage talking just as much if not more. It’s a muscle, it’s a discipline. It’s not difficult; it just takes time. So the stagecraft of it is very helpful on a Richard Linklater film, because, unlike many film directors, he hasn’t thrown out the words.”
Asked about his recent comments on Robert Redford on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Mr. Hawke said, “When I was falling in love with cinema, he was very high on our national consciousness. While some actors get over-celebrated, it doesn’t mean the medium and the work itself is not valuable. Robert Redford was what a modern successful actor could be. That he maintained his pursuit of excellence throughout his life is kind of staggering. With his work for the environment and his work for other artists, he took the success he had and used it to empower others.”
What at this point in his career does he look for in roles? “Great writing. Actors are only as good as their opportunity. ‘Blue Moon’ was the greatest opportunity of my life. You’re always looking for a part where you can meet the wall of your talent.”
He did admit that Mr. Linklater was a “brutal director” on the film. “He said to me the second week of rehearsal, ‘This movie is going to be as good as you make it. This is the time to use everything you’ve learned about acting.’ At the same time, he would never say, ‘Do it differently.’ Instead he would say, ‘I saw Ethan. I don’t want to see Ethan.’ It’s like finding the right key and staying in that key. Another note is in the wrong key.”
You see a remarkable performance in “Blue Moon.” But you never see Ethan.
