Ethan Hawke Did ‘Moon Knight’ To ‘Put Food On The Table’ Because That’s What Paul Newman Would Do

Movies / July 25, 2022 / Admin / 0

Ethan Hawke spends a whole year. He kicked off 2022 by making his Marvel debut in “Moon Knight” on Disney+, and he recently directed “The Last Movie Stars,” an HBO Max documentary about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

While these two projects may seem to occupy opposite ends of the entertainment spectrum, Hawke’s experience on one inspired him to create the other. In a new interview with Insider, the actor revealed he was initially hesitant to star in “Moon Knight.” But after talking with his family, he decided to play the part because he thought that was what Paul Newman would do.

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“I remember I was sitting at my table and I had just been offered ‘Moon Knight’ and I was trying to decide whether or not I should do it,” Hawke said. “And my youngest, Indiana, who was 10 at the time, said, ‘Well, dad, what would Paul do? “”

Although Newman never made a superhero movie, Hawke thinks some of his later roles suggest he would have embraced the current landscape of franchise-driven entertainment – if he had to.

“Do I think he admired blockbusters and superhero movies? No, I don’t,” Hawke said. “He hated doing ‘Towering Inferno.’ It was his idea of a giant sale. You see him in physical pain in this film.

In that sense, Hawke says he made the decision to appear in “Moon Knight” for purely financial reasons, which he also thinks Newman would have done to support his family.

“It’s still a job,” Hawke said. “You always have to put food on the table.”

Still, it seems Hawke enjoyed the experience, as he ultimately praised the creative freedom Marvel gave him as an actor. He thinks finding a balance between art and business is what Paul Newman would have done.

“I’m an actor,” he said. “It’s how I pay my children’s medical bills, it’s how I put a roof over our heads. And my job is not to change the world and make it the perfect place. My job is to do a good job to the best of my abilities. So we all decided, ‘I think you should.’ And I’m glad I did.

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