Update: Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater's much-anticipated 12-year film project "Boyhood" opens in theatres across Austin today. KUT talked with star Ethan Hawke when he was in town for South by Southwest.
Original Story (March 11): Actor Ethan Hawke is in not one but two films that headlined SXSW Film this year.
“Boyhood” is the 12-year-long film project about growing up by Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater. “Predestination” is a time-travel sci-fi thriller.
KUT sat down with Hawke to talk with him about the films and about his Texas ties – Hawke was born in Austin.
On Whether He’d Like to be Considered a Hometown Boy:
"Well Austin has a lot of boys, you know. I think Austin is closer to my heart than I am to Austin's heart if you know what I mean. My parents were students at UT when I was born. And I've had this 20-year collaboration with Richard Linklater that has brought me continually back here so I feel like Austin is a big part of my life... There's a great Larry McMurtry line in a book called "All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers" which is, 'if you leave Texas without permission, it will always haunt you.' And I think I left without permission when I was a little boy and it's always eating at me."
On "Boyhood":
"Rick (Linklater) is obviously, more than any filmmaker working in narrative, is really using time as his clay. Whether it's the "Before Sunrise, Sunset, Midnight" trilogy or this movie, which we started before we even made the sequel to "Before Sunrise"... I have immense pride in this film. It's unlike anything I've ever been involved with and it's sheer originality... It's an epic about minutia and I can't wait for the world to see this movie."
On Keeping "Boyhood" a Secret for 12 Years:
"I knew what it was about and I knew how good it was going to be. People would ask me what I was working on and I would say, 'oh I've got this thing with Richard Linklater.' And they're like, 'sure whatever.' But it's good.
On "Predestination":
"It's an old-fashioned sci-fi movie... It's the best of sci-fi because it's really about ideas. It'd be a good double feature with Gattaca, a movie I did years ago. But it's kind of a mind-bending sci-fi."
