Ethan Hawke made fond memories with Robert Redford before the Oscar winner died earlier this week.
“He picked Before Sunrise to open the [Sundance Film] Festival, and he introduced it,” Hawke, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly at the Wednesday, September 17, premiere of The Lowdown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “It was a big moment in [director] Richard Linklater and I’s life just to have Robert Redford take us under his wing and say, ‘I believe in you guys,’ and to open the festival with [our] movie.”
He added, “We were getting bad reviews and stuff at the time. Redford was one of the first guys to get that movie and to get what was interesting about it.”
Linklater, 65, wrote and directed 1995’s Before Sunrise, which formally opened at the acclaimed Utah film festival as the beginning of his Before trilogy. Hawke starred as Jesse opposite Julie Delpy’s Céline.
“Everybody wanted the director of Slacker to make Reality Bites 2 — and that’s not what he did. He did something else,” Hawke said on Wednesday of Linklater’s filmography. “Redford was like, ‘That’s cool.’ And we were like, ‘Hey, Redford thinks we’re cool. Maybe we are cool?’”
Redford died on Tuesday, September 16, at the age of 89, and Hawke was one of many stars who publicly shared their condolences.
“Robert Redford, our ultimate champion of independent film, relentless advocate for authentic storytelling and fiercely passionate environmentalist,” Hawke wrote via Instagram. “Robert’s legacy remains ingrained in our culture, transformed by his artistry, activism and the founding of Sundance Institute and Film Festival.”
In addition to his lengthy list of acting credits, Redford’s Sundance Institute partnered with the annual festival beginning in 1981.
“It was like a guy standing outside a speakeasy or something. People would say, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, there’s a thing we are doing,’” Redford told The Hollywood Reporter in 2009. “It was about five years before I even knew we would succeed and stay alive.”
Sundance screened Linklater’s Slacker in 1991, and Before Sunrise followed four years later.
“I was there in ’91 with my first film that anyone would care to watch, Slacker,” Linklater recalled to THR at the time. “Slacker played in the competition, which is remarkable. It was such a weird film. It didn’t win any awards or anything, but it did help the film. It was just a good profile. I was always happy to show at Sundance. I was not a Sundance one-and-done-er by any means. I was very happy to always go back there.
As for Hawke, he will next star in FX’s The Lowdown as Lee Raybon.
“Sterlin Harjo’s Reservation Dogs is the definition of quirky, weird, human, funny and profound. When you can intersect those things, it’s magic,” Hawke, also an executive producer on the series, told Us of the Lowdown showrunner. “I just wanted to work with him, and now we’re inside a crime genre. It’s a little easier, actually, when you’re inside a genre. Audiences love genre. ‘What’s the mystery? Who did it? Who’s the criminal? Who’s going to get killed?’ All those kind of tropes that make watching the show fun, but it’s still full of all his eccentricity and humanity.”
The Lowdown premieres on FX Tuesday, September 23, at 9 p.m. ET.