‘Blue Moon’ Star Ethan Hawke on His First Lead Actor Oscar Nom, Why the Film Is a ‘Decade-Long Dream’ and His Friendship With Director Richard Linklater

Ethan Hawke has been making movies for decades. But it took a role his longtime collaborator Richard Linklater dreamed up — born out of years of shared theater trips and a mutual love of the stage — to finally earn him his first lead actor Academy Award nomination.

“I don’t think anybody else really would’ve thought of me for this character,” Hawke said in Variety’s “For the Love of the Craft: The Nominees” video. “But because he knows me so well, he knew how passionately I would feel about it.”

Hawke, nominated for best actor for his portrayal of lyricist Lorenz Hart in Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” said he first read the script more than 10 years ago. The two have long bonded over a shared love of theater. They first met when Linklater came to see Hawke in a play and the script felt like a natural extension of that relationship.