Ethan Hawke recently won a Lifetime Achievement award at the Locarno Film Festival, but his fans aren’t confined to Switzerland. One of them is Nicolas Cage, who responded to praise from Hawke with kind words of his own: “Ethan is someone I have admired for a very long time, not only because he’s the compelling thespian that he is but also because he’s a multiple published novelist and a great filmmaker in his own right,” Cage tells Rolling Stone in a new interview. “For him to say that, I’m very touched.”
Cage continues, “especially at a time when actors can be very negative about each other in the press. That usually comes from insecurity. But because Ethan is a confident man and he has nothing to compete with, he’s someone I think we all look up to. He was very graceful about that, and I’m deeply moved by it.”
The Oscar winner then turns his attention to Hawke’s rightly acclaimed performance in “First Reformed.” “And, by the way, ‘First Reformed,’ well, it certainly has my vote for both Best Actor and Best Director. I thought what Paul [Schrader] and Ethan got up to in that movie was a collision of topical, relevant events in terms of the environment, fractured spirituality, and a tragic character that was very compelling to watch.”
“I’ve always been a fan, I’ve always thought he was extraordinary, but I’ve never seen Ethan go there in that way, and it was shocking and very powerful,” he adds. “I think they’re gonna have a great year.” One can only hope.
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