Ethan Hawke embraced politics head-on at the Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday ahead of the premiere of his latest movie, The Weight.
“Anything that fights fascism, I’m all for it,” the Blue Moon star told a Berlinale presser when asked about the role of “famous artists” during a time when “fascism is on the rise in Europe and the U.S.” Hawke started his response by cautioning “the last place you probably want to look for advice in your spiritual counsel is a bunch of jet-lagged drunk artists talking about their film.”
But Hawke then referenced director Padraic McKinley’s historical drama, set in 1930s Oregon and about gold rush greed and survival. “It’s about a group of people who don’t think they have anything in common, who band together to fight institutional greed and malevolence to realize that they have so much more in common, and that’s worth fighting for. So I love that that is what we’re offering the world in response,” he continued.
European journalists at the Berlinale have expressed disapproval about film talent and festival jurors shying away from politics after jury president Wim Wenders, Golden Bear recipient Michelle Yeoh and Sunny Dancer star Neil Patrick Harris declined to comment on U.S. politics, and instead argued politics should be separate from cinema.
Indian author Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things) pulled out of the fest entirely on Friday in response to comments by Wenders that “art should not be political.” Hawke also addressed a question about an open letter issued on Tuesday where Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton and Adam McKay, among around 80 signers, criticized the Berlin Film Festival’s apparent “silence” on Gaza.
“We’re not telling anybody what to do. We’re just citizens sharing our opinion, and you’re able to make it of what you will,” he told the presser.
In The Weight, Hawke plays Samuel Murphy who, after the death of his wife, is imprisoned in a labor camp run by Clancy, an unscrupulous overseer played by Russell Crowe. Murphy only wants to escape and regain custody of his daughter, Penny, but becomes entangled in Clancy’s perilous gold smuggling scheme, facing threats from both the treacherous wilderness and potential betrayal within his own group.
Hawke also addressed a question about his flashy suit worn to the press conference, and began by recalling his first visit to the Berlinale in the early 1990s where he wore a suit bought for $4 at a thrift store. “And as your face cracks and decomposes, you start to spend more money on clothes,” the self-deprecating Hollywood star added.
McKinley, known for his TV work on series such as Kingdom and Debris, directed The Weight from an original screenplay by Shelby Gaines, Matthew Chapman, and Matthew Booi, and which is based on an original story by Booi and Leo Scherman.
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