- Ethan Hawke says that of all the films in his iconic catalog, it was Richard Linklater’s 2001 experimental thriller. Adhesive tape who “changed my life”.
- “I would say that acting was my introduction to being an adult actor,” Hawke explained.
- Hawke remembers doing Adhesive tape “just before Training dayand I remember being very grateful to have had that experience, because Denzel was the most remarkable artist I had ever worked with.
Forget Society of Dead Poets – it was an under-seen experimental thriller that really gave Ethan Hawke his big break.
Hawke recently returned to one of the most daring titles in his rich filmography: Adhesive tapea low-budget bedroom piece that Hawke paired with his Before sunrise the director, Richard Linklater, to be made in 2001.
“If I had to choose a movie role that changed my life, it would be Adhesive tape“Hawke told the BBC on Thursday. “I would say that film was my entry into being an adult actor. I was about to turn 30, so I was becoming an adult. And this was back when digital video was a brand new technology. Linklater and I were really excited about how this new form was going to change films.
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Adhesive tape pushes the boundaries of the medium and provokes its audience in several ways. With Hawke, his then-wife, Uma Thurman, and his Society of Dead Poets starring Robert Sean Leonard, the claustrophobic thriller deliberately cast each actor in roles that play up and subvert their public persona.
In the film, Hawke plays Vince, a drug dealer who secretly records his friend Jon (Leonard), a volunteer firefighter, confessing to raping their former mutual flame, Amy (Thurman). This spiky tangle becomes even thornier when Amy arrives at the motel room where Vince and Jon are arguing. The entire film was shot in real time on a consumer camcorder in a single room, on a shoestring budget, over a handful of days.
Although it hasn’t been considered the definitive film in the careers of any of its main collaborators, Hawke believes it should be.
“We worked in a very different way than we had done before because of the way these cameras worked…there was no laziness. No one really wants to see a movie set in one room. We knew we had to be sharp, to the point and funny,” Hawke explained. “The three of us were friends, and that allowed the rehearsal process to deepen very quickly.”
The actor admitted that he and Leonard were deliberately chosen for the “subtext” of their famous Society of Dead Poets link. Adhesive tapemeanwhile, “is a film set 10 years out of school” and sets Hawke up for an important film to follow.
“I did it Adhesive tape just before Training day, and I remember being so grateful to have had that experience, because (Denzel Washington) was the most remarkable artist I’ve ever worked with,” he said.”Training day putting everything I had learned to the test.
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Speaking about his connection with Hawke in a 2001 interview with IGNLinklater noted that it was Hawke who sent him the Stephen Belber play on which the film was based and not the other way around. “I usually choose him, but that’s probably how he chose me. I don’t know. You know, when you work with someone and you like the way their mind works… I just admire Ethan. The way he approaches everything. He’s not like a careerist movie star. He’s kind of like a beatnik artist who just follows his own muse.”
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