{"id":312707,"date":"2025-10-18T06:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T06:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312707\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T06:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T06:17:12","slug":"ethan-hawke-shares-the-harsh-acting-advice-from-philip-seymour-hoffman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312707\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Hawke Shares the Harsh Acting Advice From Philip Seymour Hoffman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethan Hawke recalled some harsh criticism he got from Philip Seymour Hoffman that helped his performance in \u201cBefore the Devil Knows You\u2019re Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

While talking about his career with Vanity Fair<\/a>, the actor revealed that he got a stern talking to by Hoffman while on a break between takes of the Sidney Lumet film. It was that moment that helped him figure out everything he needed to know about the character.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil was great \u2013 and by that, I mean, he didn\u2019t suffer fools lightly,\u201d Hawke said. \u201cHe was one of those people that it just felt life and death to him whether or not we did the scene well. The stakes were very high for him, and it could be scary. I remember once we were rehearsing, and it\u2019s when I found the character, it\u2019s gonna sound mean, I think, but it wasn\u2019t mean. We were rehearsing and I was, I don\u2019t know, pouring some coffee on a break, and I said, \u2018I just have no idea who this guy is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cAnd Phil said, \u2018You wanna know why?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Why?\u2019 He goes, \u2018Cause you keep trying to play alpha, and I\u2019m the alpha. Stop it.\u2019 And for some reason it all just clicked. It\u2019s like he started a dynamic between the two of us that was right. Power and status in brothers, in society, it all plays a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The 2007 crime thriller follows Hoffman and Hawke as older and younger brothers. The older is a debt-addled broker who convinces his younger sibling to rob their family\u2019s jewelry store. The job is botched and their father (Albert Finney) takes the hunt for the criminals into his own hands not knowing he\u2019s pursuing his own sons.<\/p>\n

Hawke remembered that Lumet leaned into their brotherly rivalry to pull better performances out of both himself and Hoffman.<\/p>\n

\u201cSidney Lumet fanned the flames of it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d come in in the morning and Sidney would say, \u2018I saw dailies last night. Phil is so good. He\u2019s so good. You know, not since Marlon Brando have I seen work like that.\u2019 And I\u2019d be like, \u2018Yeah, great, great. And my stuff was\u2014.\u2019 \u2018Oh yeah, yeah, it was fine. I mean, it must be a real honor to work with him.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Yeah, it is. It\u2019s a real honor.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawke finished: \u201cAt wrap of the movie, I went up to Phil and I said, \u2018You know, this has been a great experience, but I\u2019m so glad it\u2019s over. Because if I gotta hear one more time from that old dog that, \u2018Not since Marlon Brando have I seen work like this \u2026\u2019 and Phil goes, \u2018He said that to you?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 He goes, \u2018He said that to me every day about you.\u2019 We walked over to Sidney and we said,
\u2018You told us both the other one was like Marlon Brando.\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018Eh, you guys are so easy to play. It\u2019s unbelievable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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