Ethan Hawke saw Robin Williams up close during the filming of the beloved classic, Dead Poets Society, and despite being quite young at the time, he could sense the complexity in the legendary actor’s life. Hawke spoke about this on CBS’s Sunday Morning.
Ethan Hawke talks about being aware of Robin Williams’ personal struggles
Ethan Hawke, who was 18 when he starred in Dead Poets Society, could grasp the emotional complexity he witnessed in Robin Williams. The Patch Adams star ended up taking his own life on 11 August 2014.
Hawke told CBS Sunday Morning’s Tracy Smith that Williams’s death did not change the way he looked at Dead Poets Society. This is partly because he was aware of the actor’s emotional struggles. He explained, “I was aware of the complexity of his emotional life.”
Hawke continued, “I’ve had a lot of depression in my family, and it was obvious to me that all that power and that charisma came at a certain cost.” The 55-year-old added that Robin Williams was a “deeply, deeply sensitive person who was highly attuned to the energy of a room.”
Ethan Hawke went on to recall a particular incident from the sets of Dead Poets Society. He remembered that Williams was “making up lines, and everybody’s laughing, everybody’s praising him,” but things took a turn right after.
The Blue Moon star revealed, “Then I went to get a glass of water, you know, get a bagel or something, and I saw him hiding in a little corner. He was hiding in the dark by himself. And I [thought], ‘Okay, it makes a lot more sense to me now.’ It was a lot. It was taxing.”
Dead Poets Society went on to become a classic film, further propelling Williams’s popularity. It also served as Ethan Hawke’s big break.
Robin Williams appeared in over 70 films throughout a career spanning four decades.
Originally reported by Sourav Chkaraborty on ComingSoon.
