Reteaming with Sinister director Scott Derrickson, Ethan Hawke will take on the villainous role of "The Grabber" in The Black Phone, which has received positive reviews by critics. It is not the first time the Oscar-nominated actor is playing a villain, having just recently portrayed the cult-leader Arthur Harrow in Disney+'s Moon Knight.
Alongside The Black Phone and Moon Knight, the year 2022 has proven to be one of the best for Hawke, who is also set to make a minor appearance in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Hawke also has a long-established career showing his versatility in the roles, from the charming lead in the Before series to a schoolboy in Dead Poets Society.
The Truth (2020) - 76
The Truth follows Lumir (Juliette Binoche), a screenwriter whose mother, famous actress Fabienne Dangeville, has just published a revealing memoir. However, Lumir has yet to read the draft and approve material related to her own life. After finding out the book is well beyond the draft stage and on track for imminent publication, she rushes to New York with her husband and daughter in tow to set the record straight once and for all. However, not unlike Fabienne's book, Lumir's visit may only serve to make their relationship tenser.
Hawke portrays Hank Cooper, Lumir's television actor husband for whom Fabienne holds very little respect. This creates tension in the marriage, but it's nothing that Hank and Lumir can't work through, especially when they're sharing their love for the arts.
Maggie's Plan (2016) - 76
Maggie's Plan features not only independent cinema darlings Greta Gerwig, Hawke, and Julianne Moore, but legendary Saturday Night Live cast members Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph as well.
The narrative follows Gerwig's Maggie, who wants to have a child, but ends up getting tangled up with married anthropologist John Harding (Hawke). However, after Maggie ends up having John's child, she realizes they were never a match to begin with and tries to help him rekindle the flame with his ex, Georgette (Julianne Moore). Like several other Hawke roles, the actor portrays a sensitive and down-to-Earth artist. In the specific case of Harding: an amateur novelist.
Before Sunrise (1995) - 77
Richard Linklater's moving and quotable Before trilogy kicked off with 1995's Before Sunrise. The film is a sharp look into the fleeting beautiful moments that make life a poignant experience riddled with potential, yet complicated, happiness.
Linklater's dialogue-heavy film stars Hawke and Julie Delpy as Jesse Wallace and Céline. Wallace is an American tourist and Céline a French student; From opposite sides of the world, the two find one another on a fortuitous train ride that leads from a chance encounter to deviated plans to long-lasting (yet realistically tumultuous) love. Before Sunrise plays more like a documentary about love than it does a motion picture with a narrative, and that's mostly due to the charmingly natural chemistry between Hawke and co-star Delpy.
Dead Poets Society (1989) - 79
Featuring future stars such as Hawke and Josh Charles, Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society was a gut-wrenching and moving drama to close out the 1980s.
Robin Williams stars as John Keating, a poetry teacher whose method's go against the overtly restrictive grain of the then-current public education system. Hawke stars as one of his students, Todd Anderson, a soft-spoken boy with a penchant for isolation. Dead Poets Society gave Hawke one of his earliest classic lines as Anderson stands on his desk and defiantly yells "O Captain! My Captain!"
The Northman (2022) - 82
Robert Eggers' period piece action film, The Northman, pairs Hawke with an incredible cast featuring Alexander Skarsgård, Björk, Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, and Anya Taylor-Joy.
The film follows Alexander Skarsgård's Amleth, a Viking prince on a quest for revenge after his uncle murders his father (Hawke). The Moon Knight actor doesn't get as many show-stopping moments as Skarsgård or Taylor-Joy, but he makes the most of his screentime with enthused line readings of some truly delicious dialogue.
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) - 85
The legendary Sidney Lumet—director of 12 Angry Men (his debut), Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Verdict—directed Hawke in what ended up being his final film, and he capped his directorial career with a crime film that masterfully leaves the viewer feeling eviscerated and hopeless.
Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman portray brothers Hank and Andy Hanson, respectively, sons of successful jewelry shop owners Charles (Albert Finney) and Nanette (Rosemary Harris). In dire need of cash, the men decide to rob their parents' shop, but the situation spiral out of control, and Hawke's Hank leaves the store with as much blood on his hands as he has diamonds in his pocket. Hawke brings a tenderness to the role that serves as a perfect juxtaposition to Hoffman's volatile, intense demeanor with words more often yelled than spoken.
First Reformed (2018) - 85
A24 has set a major example for other, larger studios on how to keep budgets low while also giving auteurs increased creative license even after filming's wrapped, and Hawke is a performer who perfectly gels with that mentality.
In First Reformed, the actor portrays Pastor Ernst Toller, a minister of a fairly small congregation who comforts a grieving widow (Amanda Seyfried) while learning of her radical deceased husband's plans to expose corruption high up in the church. The role of Pastor Toller allows Hawke to do what he does best: acting without saying a word. Toller is a deeply conflicted man, even though he's the leader of a flock, and every ounce of emotion that could be conveyed by an actor is compellingly sold by Hawke in one of the best performances of his career.
Before Sunset (2004) - 90
There's a fair consensus that Linklater's trilogy peaked at the middle, which isn't to discount the tear-jerking and genuinely relatable nature of the first and third entries.
In Sunset, Jesse and Céline are nearly a decade older (a trend that would continue on to the third and final chapter) and far apart. Jesse is a relatively successful author who has written a book heavily inspired by his night with Céline, with whom he reconnects after an author reading in Paris. The two look at the choices they've made and wonder what went right, what went wrong, and what they can change. Both Hawke and Delpy stay true to the characters established in Before Sunrise, but Before Sunset advances them, making them seem like seasoned individuals still on the path of self-discovery.
Before Midnight (2013) - 94
All three Before films rank among Hawke's best, but it was the trilogy's conclusion that managed to stand as the highest of three achievements.
In Before Midnight, Hawke's Jesse and Delpy's Celine are on vacation in Greece, trying to soak in their final night of bliss before it's back to reality. With these final hours in paradise, the couple thinks back on what might have happened were they never to have met on that train and proceed through their beautiful ups and devastating downs. Like the other two films, Hawke and Delpy bring an extremely personal touch to their performances, allowing Jesse and Celine to seem like a real couple moving through the world together.
Boyhood (2014) - 100
Richard Linklater's magnum opus and a masterpiece of a film, Boyhood is a technical marvel if only for the risks it took.
Film production can take years, particularly for big-budget films, but Boyhood was a production that started out as intentionally long, following Ellar Coltrane's Mason from the years 2002 to 2013. Hawke stars as Mason Sr., the boy's father and, while he's excellent in the role, Patrique Arquette steals the show as Mason's mother, Olivia. Even still, Mason Sr. is a well-defined character that, like in the Before trilogy, feels more like genuine flesh and blood than a writer's creation. The role plays like Hawke was utilizing his experience as a parent, making lines like "Life doesn't give you bumpers" all the more poignant.