Ethan Hawke is one of the best talkers or best conversationalists out there. The man loves to talk, he loves to be interviewed, he loves to shoot the sh-t. Ethan was recently interviewed by Chris Wallace for Wallace’s Charlie Rose-esque Max series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace. This one clip is making the rounds, where Ethan once again talks about how much he f–king loved working with Denzel Washington. They first worked together on Training Day, for which Ethan was nominated for an Oscar and Denzel won his second Oscar. Ethan basically said the same thing Tom Hanks said about working with Denzel, that it was like working with a next-level actor and one of the greatest actors of all time. Ethan also revealed what Denzel said to him at the 2002 Oscars when Ethan lost.
Ethan Hawke is revealing the advice his Training Day co-star Denzel Washington told him after he lost at the 2002 Academy Awards. The two legendary actors were both nominated that year for their roles in the 2001 film, including best actor and best supporting actor, respectively. While Washington won in his category, Jim Broadbent beat out Hawke for his performance in Iris.
During the actor’s recent appearance on Max’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, he revealed why Washington whispered in his ear during the ceremony that it’s actually better to lose the Oscar.
“You don’t want an award to improve your status. You want to improve the award’s status,” Hawke recalled, quoting his former co-star. “That’s the way he thinks, and that’s what I’m talking about playing with [baseball great] Babe Ruth.”
Earlier during the interview, the Leave the World Behind star compared working with Washington to what it would be like to play baseball with Ruth.
“I think when all is said and done, he’s the greatest actor of our generation,” he said. “The Academy Award has more power because Denzel has a couple. It didn’t elevate who he was.”
That being said, when Wallace asked Hawke if he would have rather just won the Oscar more than two decades ago, the actor admitted that he was just thankful to be nominated.
“No… I mean, yeah, I guess,” the Before Midnight star responded. “I was at the Oscars sitting next to Denzel Washington and nominated against Ian McKellen. I had already won. It was impossible for me not to see it any other way.”
I forgot that Jim Broadbent won that year! Broadbent had a great run in 2001 – he was in Moulin Rouge, Bridget Jones’s Diary AND Iris (which is what he won for). I understood why Broadbent won that year, and the advice Denzel gave Ethan was true – he didn’t need an Oscar to tell him he’s a good actor, or for his status. Anyway, Ethan has been giving Denzel his flowers for decades now. Ethan just loves Denzel so much – he also talks that way about River Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Photos courtesy of Thomas Dubois / RetnaUK / Avalon, Euan Cherry / Avalon, George Pimentel / Avalon.