NEW YORK, Oct. 11 -- Actor Ethan Hawke insists that co-starring in a successful action flick doesn't mean he has sold out as an artist.
Best-known for his performances in small, provocative films like "Tape," "Waking Life," "Snow Falling on Cedars," and Michael Almereyda's "Hamlet," Hawke can now be seen as an idealistic young narcotics detective opposite Denzel Washington's corrupt cop in the hit movie, "Training Day."
"I'm happy to be in a movie that I like, that I think a lot of other people will like," the 31-year-old Texas native recently told reporters.
Describing most of the movies he has made in the last few years as good, but "not tremendously accessible" to a large audience, Hawke recalled an experience he had when he went to see last summer's blockbuster "The Perfect Storm."
"'Hamlet' had just come out and (I got) some of the best reviews of my life," he said. "That was a great experience, but I realized that nobody in (the) movie theater (where 'The Perfect Storm' was playing) was also anxiously awaiting (my) movie. They would all walk out of 'Hamlet.' And I realized I would really like, some time, to make a movie that had a more cross-cultural appeal. That would appeal to more people. That could play on the Fourth of July and upstate New York," he explained.
Hawke acknowledged that the term "commercial" was a dirty word to him just a few years ago, but explained that marrying actress Uma Thurman, fathering two children and just plain getting older and wiser has made him look at his career -- and life -- in a different light.
"When you're young and you don't have any responsibility ... You know, (that's when) my art was the most important thing to me ... I didn't want to be commercial. I didn't want to be this. I didn't want to be that. Now, all of a sudden I'm like: 'Hey, man. Life is big. Life is full of different things. It's long. You know, it goes by fast, but there's a lot of different opportunities,'" he stated.
The actor also pointed out how hard it is today for filmmakers to get projects made unless they have big stars in them to insure good returns at the box office. By starring in an action film himself, Hawke reasoned that he might improve his name recognition and thereby get offered better parts.
"We live in an environment right now where it's very hard for good filmmakers to hire you if you don't (appear in big studio movies,)" he said. "And it's something I really lived in denial of for a long time."
He continued: "Look who's in (Martin) Scorsese's new movie ('Gangs of New York,') man? They're all good actors, but they're all like really, really famous. It's not like it used to be. I mean, Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio are in Scorsese's new movie, you know? So, even if these cats want to hire you, they can't hire you. And, you know, it starts to get harder and harder to get stuff like 'Hamlet' made. And I enjoyed making stuff like that. I enjoyed doing (small, innovative) movies with Richard Linklater. But ... you have to play a little game, a little ball. I'm not really willing to play ball to such an extent that I would do something I felt had no value. I've still got to be able to sit and talk to my friends and not feel like ... so I'm trying to find a sense of balance with that. And I always admired Denzel because I've always thought he was one of the very few big movie stars who is a great actor."
Hawke said he thinks there is a definite down side to becoming too famous, however.
"I think Leonardo is a great example of (a star who is too big,)" he said. "I think he was definitely one of the most exciting actors of his generation and I think (his fame) has made it a lot harder on him ... 'Titanic' didn't do him any favors. He's a guy who used to be able to turn out two movies a year, and kind of do whatever he wanted ... I had an idea to do a play with him and I finally realized: 'I can't do a play with this guy ... it would be a stunt.' The audience would be full of 12-year-old girls who didn't (care) what ... we could be doing the darkest Eugene O'Neill play in the world and people would still scream through Act Three. And he's placed in this position now where he can't go just do some $5 million movie and go play around ... that guy was poised to take over where River (Phoenix) was, but all of a sudden he's this big movie star. I think it's really hard onhim."
Despite his impressive resume, it took some convincing -- and a recommendation from Washington -- to get Warner Brothers to hire Hawke for the part of Jake in "Training Day," the fast-paced cop movie that opened at the top of the box office last week.
"I had to come in and audition," Hawke recalled. "Because the studio didn't really think ... Denzel and (director) Antwon (Fuqua) really wanted me for the job, but the studio didn't really think so, so I had to come in and test for it and as soon as I did that and I think Denzel put his foot down, that was it."
He added: "I know that when you haven't done (a certain type of role) before, it's hard ... it was a little harder for me than I would have thought to get the job. Because, say you do something like play a cop, people don't think you can do it. But I'd always known I'd wanted to do something like this. It's just that I wanted to do a good ... most of them are really bad. I don't have a burning desire to be in an action movie for the sake of being in an action movie. I wanted to be in one that I liked with good people."
Hawke will make his full-length film directorial debut later this year with "Chelsea Walls," five stories that take place on a single day in New York City's famed Chelsea Hotel.
