Credit: Far Out / Bryan Berlin
Tue 18 August 2026 21:15, UK
Whether he’s wandering the streets of Vienna, battling corrupt cops, or grabbing children and keeping them in his basement, Ethan Hawke is always a joy to watch. All of those descriptions refer to his roles, by the way, in case you thought he was a wrong ’un.
Before he was the cinematic juggernaut he is today, Hawke was a prominent child star, making his movie debut at the age of 14 and racking up half a dozen film credits by the time he was 21. This period included his breakout role as a student under the tutelage of an inspiring Robin Williams-shaped teacher in Dead Poets Society, but were it not for one person, he would have been in another 1980s coming-of-age classic first.
A young Hawke had auditioned for the role of Chris Chambers in Rob Reiner’s enduring favourite, Stand By Me, which would have seen him join Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell on a journey to discover a dead body. In an interview with The Guardian many years later, Hawke recalled exactly what Reiner said to him about the part: “You’re really good, but I just gave the part to another kid with a bird name”.
As you may have figured out, that “kid with a bird name” was River Phoenix, one of 300 boys who auditioned for the movie, originally reading for Wheaton’s part, Gordie Lachance. Stand By Me would be one of Phoenix’s first big roles, while Hawke would have to wait a few more years, but interestingly, the two bird-named boys already knew each other.
Both Phoenix and Hawke had starred in the 1985 Joe Dante-directed sci-fi flick Rescuers, centring a group of teenagers who build a spaceship in an attempt to leave Earth, which went head-to-head with Back to the Future at the box office, and obviously lost, but it has picked up a cult following in the years since.
While Hawke has admitted to being jealous of his former scene partner at one time, he holds no such grudges now, wherein his love for Phoenix was only strengthened following the star’s tragic death in 1993, which the former believes was caused by Hollywood itself.
“He was the brightest light, and this industry chewed him up, and that was a big lesson to me,” he lamented, “If I had to put a single reason on why I never moved to LA, it would be, I think, it’s too dangerous for an actor like me to be in that kind of climate.”
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
Phoenix died on the pavement outside The Viper Room club in Hollywood following a drug overdose at just 23 years old, and while many tributes have been released to the idol in the years since his tragic passing, few have been as poignant as the ones from his childhood friend.
It’s great to hear that Hawke has been able to make peace with losing out on Stand By Me, especially in the face of what would happen to its star.
