16.09.02
Actors
don't need so much money says Ethan Hawke
Movie
and sports stars don't need the amount of money they are paid, actor
Ethan Hawke tells next week's issue of Radio Times.
"Does
any human being need the amount some actors or sportsmen are paid?
No. But if Tom Cruise is paid $25 million, others are making a billion
dollars off him," says Hawke. "If your movie doesn't do
well, you become a big turkey.
"Acting
is an interesting ride, man. As Lord Olivier said, with most professions
you find that snakes, demons, vanity, self-abuse and destruction
only appear when you're at the top of the ladder. Acting is the
only profession where they inhabit the first rung. It's not just
nasty people. It's what it does to you. If you take the hype and
glamour seriously, it's very harmful."
Hawke,
who has recently published his second novel, credits his wife, fellow
actor Uma Thurman, who he met on the set of the 1997 science-fiction
thriller Gattaca, with helping him to avoid taking acting too seriously.
But he used to have doubts about marriage: "I didn't ever want
to be married. I wanted to be Warren Beatty - but of course, he's
married now. All I cared about was acting and writing. I ran a theatre
company, wrote a book. Women were great so long as they fitted into
my schedule, until I fell. And fell all the way when I met someone
special.
"I
was really worried about marrying an actress. I was disgusted with
myself for being famous and I didn't want to bring more celebrity
nonsense into my life. But you can't choose who you love. My wife
really wanted to have babies, had an instinct I was the guy, and
was hellbent on doing it. I was fearful. I don't think men can be
that committed, but I'm incredibly grateful now. I've made so many
changes in my life that wouldn't have happened if she hadn't demanded
them."
|
