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Actor Ethan Hawke took multiple political questions from an audience at a film festival on Tuesday, but warned that people should not put too much stock in the advice of “jet-lagged, drunk artists.”
During the press conference for his new historical drama “The Weight,” the Oscar-nominated actor received a question from German news outlet “Jung and Naiv.” A journalist from the local outlet asked him for his opinion on the role of artists to use their voices amid the rise of “fascism” in Europe and America.
“Alright…” Hawke began, sounding somewhat put off by the question.
“The last place you probably want to look for advice in your spiritual council is a bunch of jet-lagged, drunk artists talking about their film,” the actor said, sparking laughter from the audience. “That said, I love the movies and I believe in the power of cinema to affect – they’re kind of like, you know, how every night we all dream and these those dreams kind of heal us and get us ready for the next day. In a lot of ways, I feel like collectively the whole festival, all of you, all of us here are responsible for creating an international dream life.”
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Hawke then pivoted to praise the film he worked on as one where a group of people who don’t have anything in common set their differences aside to combat “institutional greed and malevolence.”
He then concluded that, ultimately, “anything that fights fascism, I’m all for.
Hawke took another question from the audience, who noted the recent open letter from many celebrities asking the festival to take a stance on the war in Gaza, and ultimately “how you feel about Palestinian voices, artists being criticized or silenced as there is an ongoing genocide.”
“I have no context for that question,” Hawke said, noting he doesn’t know about the names who signed the open letter.
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“The last time I spoke publicly about any of this, I was really shocked at how much animosity it was met with and of people saying things like ‘Actors shouldn’t talk about politics’ or things like that. And I really feel like the answer is the absolute inverse is that everybody should be. We’re all citizens of the world and all of us matter, and all of us have a voice and everybody’s welcome to disagree.”
He continued, “That’s part of the benefits of living in a free society. And yeah, we get microphones thrown in front of our face. But that’s not because we’re telling anybody what to do. We’re just citizens sharing our opinion. And you’re willing to make of it what you will. We’re not – some of the greatest minds in the world have tried to make the planet live in peace and and it seems to be very difficult for humanity.’
He later concluded, “I feel like there’s a slight agenda to your question that is different than my agenda, but I respect you and I respect the question.”
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