{"id":138650,"date":"2025-10-22T16:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T16:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138650\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T16:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T16:33:09","slug":"ethan-hawke-on-embracing-the-heartbreak-of-broadway-drama-blue-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138650\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Hawke on embracing the ‘heartbreak’ of Broadway drama ‘Blue Moon’"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Ethan Hawke says he wasn\u2019t interested in \u201cimitating\u201d when he took on the challenge of portraying the personal and professional collapse of real-life lyricist Lorenz Hart for the period drama \u201cBlue Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The veteran stage and screen star says he easily recognized the anxieties and self-destructive impulses that torment Hart throughout the film, which unfolds in real-time and is nearly entirely set at the famous theatre-district restaurant Sardi\u2019s several months before Hart\u2019s death in November 1943.<\/p>\n

Hawke is nearly unrecognizable as the balding, diminutive Hart, who drinks and grouses over the state of Broadway as his old writing partner Richard Rodgers is just down the street premiering a buzzy new show called \u201cOklahoma!\u201d with a new partner, Oscar Hammerstein II.<\/p>\n

Hawke says he was \u201chypnotized\u201d by the script and the logistical challenges of playing someone who looks nothing like him and is nearly always talking and spewing witticisms, although seemingly incapable of actually confronting his innermost troubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent my life with theatre people,\u201d Hawke explained at a press conference during the recent Toronto International Film Festival, where the film screened. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I knew him. You know, I felt like I spent a couple of months with old Larry. I know this dude and I love him and I admire him and he breaks my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although now vaulted as the lyrical genius behind some of music\u2019s most venerated ballads \u2013 \u201cBlue Moon\u201d and \u201cMy Funny Valentine,\u201d among them \u2013 Hart harboured a private pain that Hawke says makes him unlike any character he\u2019s ever seen on film.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a great line in the movie: \u2018Nobody ever loved me that much.\u2019 He\u2019s paraphrasing from \u2018Casablanca\u2019 but it\u2019s clearly a mantra of somebody who cannot feel or absorb love from other people,\u201d says Hawke, summarizing the story arc as watching \u201ca person\u2019s heart break so much that they\u2019re going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he doesn\u2019t feel it\u2019s reciprocal, the love that he\u2019s giving. I think he\u2019s in a tremendous amount of pain about that. He\u2019s also wildly confused,\u201d he adds, referring to Hart\u2019s closeted sexuality and a relationship he pursues with a young protege, played by Margaret Qualley.<\/p>\n

Bobby Cannavale, who appeared off-Broadway with Hawke in 2005\u2019s \u201cHurlyburly,\u201d co-stars as a bartender who offers a soft landing for Hart\u2019s jokes and gripes, while Andrew Scott plays Rodgers and Simon Delaney is Hammerstein.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Moon\u201d director Richard Linklater notes the story is also peppered with \u201cfanciful\u201d encounters involving historical figures who might have dropped by the after-party, among them \u201cStuart Little\u201d author E.B. White and a young Yale student meant to be George Roy Hill, before he directs 1969\u2019s buddy classic \u201cButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.\u201d <\/p>\n

Linklater says he was interested in exploring the demise of an artistic career, supposing that the fruitful Rodgers-and-Hart partnership ends not for lack of talent, but because of Hart\u2019s alcoholism and inability to address personal demons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably never sober another day,\u201d Linklater suggests of what comes after that momentous night.<\/p>\n

Linklater says he and Hawke began discussing the script more than a decade ago but didn\u2019t immediately assume they would team up for the project, just the latest in a string of partnerships including the \u201cBefore\u201d trilogy of films.<\/p>\n

Hawke says they began to consider it seriously in recent years as they mused on the cinematic potential of telling a story in real-time, in one location. <\/p>\n

They made a point of using old-school staging tricks to transform Hawke into the five-foot-tall Hart, largely achieved through body movements and forced camera perspectives. Hawke also shaved the crown of his head and grew out the sides to achieve a severe comb-over.<\/p>\n

The way Hart looked was a key part of his character, Hawke says, taking a moment to lighten the mood while spelling out the way \u201cpeople associate height with strength and power and sexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, Bobby\u2019s tall, but he\u2019s really none of those positive (things),\u201d he said, gesturing to Cannavale beside him, sandwiched by Scott.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we know lots of smaller people who are a lot more powerful, a lot sexier, a lot smarter,\u201d he continued to laughter.<\/p>\n

Linklater said he seized on a mix of dark and light moments in telling Hart\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something so poignant about it, sad. But like a Rodgers-and-Hart song, so witty and funny and you see his genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Moon\u201d opens in theatres Friday.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Ethan Hawke says he wasn\u2019t interested in \u201cimitating\u201d when he took on the challenge of portraying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[18,117,19,17,327],"class_list":{"0":"post-138650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-movies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}