Though Ethan Hawke was just a teenager during the filming of “Dead Poets Society,” he recognized that Robin Williams — who played inspiring English teacher John Keating in Peter Weir’s 1989 classic — was struggling.
When asked in an interview on “CBS Sunday Morning” if he’s been able to watch the film after Williams’ 2014 suicide amid his battle with Lewy body dementia, Hawke said that “does not fundamentally change the way I watch the movie.”
“Even at 18, I was aware of the complexity of his emotional life,” Hawke continued. “I’ve had a lot of depression in my family, and it was obvious to me that all that power and that charisma came at a certain cost. He was a deeply, deeply sensitive person who was highly attuned to the energy of a room.”
Hawke recalled that one time on set, Williams was “making up lines and everyone was laughing and praising him,” but when Hawke later went to get a glass of water he found Williams “hiding in the corner in the dark by himself.”
“I thought, ‘Oh, OK. It makes a lot more sense to me now,’” Hawke said. “It was a lot. It was taxing. There’s a lot of stories about clowns and the happiness they give and at what cost. So I say all that to say, the end of his life does not define his life to me. And when I watch the movie, I think of the spirit of the man I knew in those days and how powerful it was and how much he weathered that storm of his psyche for us and for other people.”
“Dead Poets Society” marked the second feature film for Hawke, who has gone on to receive four Oscar nominations. Looking back, he said the movie taught him several important lessons, including how to handle bad reviews.
“I didn’t realize how much I was being taught and how that sustained me through negative criticism,” Hawke said. “Like, there’s not any rules about being a great actor. Drop dead! So you don’t like it, suck an egg! It’s not my problem you don’t like it. You don’t know what great acting is any more than I do. And those ideas were given to me by playing the movie.”
Watch Hawke’s full “CBS Sunday Morning” interview below.
