Ethan Hawke doesn't want AI
Ethan Hawke has admitted the idea of using AI in movies makes him want to "go back to the theatre" because he thinks the future is in live events with human interaction.
Ethan Hawke has admitted the idea of using AI in movies makes him want to "go back to the theatre".
The Blue Moon actor doesn't fully "understand" the technology but he believes using it in film means the "future" is now in live events featuring real human interaction.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: “When people start talking about AI, I really just want to go back to the theatere I’m like, ‘I don’t understand what this is about, it’s above my pay grade.’
" In the theatre, everybody has to f****** put their phones down and they have to breathe and they have to sit still.
"It’s like going back to the farm. There’s a Luddite aspect to it for me.
"I went to see the Taylor Swift Eras Tour and I thought, this is actually really cool.
“It’s all these young people dying to be at a live event. The future is here, strangely.”
And while there has been a trend for major movie stars to land lead roles in Broadway and the West End, Ethan doesn't view that as a bad thing because they can help young people develop an interest in the theatre which they may not have had before.
He said: “I remember seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen do Gadot in London. I would say 90 percent of the audience was under 30, and they were there to see Gandalf and Captain Picard, but the production was brilliant.
“They walked out thrilled, having absorbed Beckett and been given a world-class production. They went for the wrong reason, but it doesn’t matter.”
The 55-year-old star also spoke of how he balances commercial work with the independent films he most enjoys.
He said: “Peter Weir used to talk about how much he loved [Andrei] Tarkovsky, but he was like, ‘That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make popular art.’ And as a popular artist, I’m willing to play within the sandbox of commerciality.
“There are a handful of people that make commercial art. Quentin [Tarantino], PTA [Paul Thomas Anderson], Ryan Coogler — it’s really good for all of us. If you look at Spielberg and Guillermo [del Toro], they’re these large trees in the forest, and they provide a lot of shade and a lot of health.
“But we need society, the culture, to make events out of small things and to help cultivate the undergrowth of the forest. The underbrush is getting thrashed and it’s so hard for a young sprout to find roots and have enough time to make enough art to grow.”
