Ethan Hawke Recounts Brutal New York Times Review in His Early Career

Ethan Hawke was on The Late Show to promote his new movie The Magnificent Seven. While there, Hawke told host Stephen Colbert about a particularly painful moment from his early acting days. Fresh off his role as Todd Anderson in Dead Poets Society, Hawke landed a meaty role for his Broadway debut. He would play Constantine in a stage production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. It was something Hawke, in his early 20s at the time, was excited about.

“Dead Poets Society comes out, people think you might have a chance of making it,” Hawke said, going through his mindset at the time. “You audition for and get your chance, in your Broadway debut, in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. You’re playing the ultimate young man’s part as Constantine, you’re making your Broadway debut.

“You fantasize in your head,” Hawke continued. “You can’t help it. You know you’re not supposed to be results oriented, you want to share and express yourself, but you do think, maybe people will think I’m great, you know? … You might read what Marlon Brando’s debut was like, and you read the great notices, and you think, ‘I wonder if mine will be like that.’”

Marlon Brando’s first years on Broadway are the stuff of legend. According to The New Yorker, in Brando’s second play, Truckline Cafe, after one of his brief scenes, “the rest of the cast sometimes had to wait for nearly two minutes after Brando’s exit while the audience screamed and stamped its feet.”

But back to Hawke. “You’re rehearsing and feeling so confident,” the four-time Oscar nominee said about the days leading up to his taking of the stage. “You know, it’s really going well … and your mom, who is very supportive, comes, and she’s like, ‘Wow, Ethan! You’re really doing it.’ And then The New York Times comes.”

The New York Times did come, and according to Hawke, they weren’t so kind. Recalling a bad write-up from memory, Hawke shared the review: “‘Ethan Hawke plays Constantine more concerned with his pimples than his poetry. Perhaps he should spend less time at the Actors Studio and more at the dermatologist.’”

We couldn’t find that actual line, but we did find a New York Times review that mentioned Hawke’s performance. Critic Frank Rich wrote, “[Constantine] is acted by the promising Ethan Hawke with an arm-waving display of unfocused nervous energy.” Harsh.

But fortunately, Hawke has had a career many would envy, and he knows it too. “But I’m still here, man,” he shouted. “I’m 45! I’m on the Colbert show!”

Also on The Late Show, Michelle Obama Shares the Highs and Lows of Being First Lady:

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