{"id":431372,"date":"2026-02-18T01:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/431372\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T01:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:06:09","slug":"dont-ask-jet-lagged-drunk-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/431372\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Ask ‘Jet-Lagged, Drunk Artists’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEthan Hawke<\/a> weighed in on the current political debate at this year\u2019s Berlin Film Festival<\/a>, pointing out that \u201cjet-lagged, drunk artists\u201d may not be the best people to look to for guidance.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the press conference for his new historical drama \u201cThe Weight<\/a>,\u201d the Oscar-nominated actor was asked his position on the responsibility of big names to speak out on topics like fascism. He took a moment to contemplate the question before saying: \u201cAlright\u2026 the last place you probably want to look for advice in your spiritual counsel is a bunch of jet-lagged, drunk artists talking about their films.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter laughter and applause from the room, Hawke added, \u201cI believe in the power of cinema to affect\u2026 you know how every night we all dream and those dreams kind of heal us and get us ready for the next day? I feel like, collectively, the whole festival \u2014 all of you, all of us here \u2014 are responsible for creating an international dream life. What is it? What are our dreams? What are we talking about? What are we thinking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said one of the reasons he loves \u201cThe Weight\u201d is because \u201cat it\u2019s core, it\u2019s about a group of people who don\u2019t think they have anything in common who band together to fight institutional greed and malevolence. And that\u2019s worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, Hawke concluded his answer with a more direct answer to the reporter\u2019s question: \u201cAnything that fights fascism, I\u2019m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPolitics are always a hot-button topic at the Berlinale, but have been even more so this year after jury president Wim Wenders and several celebrities, including Michelle Yeoh and Neil Patrick Harris, avoided answering questions about Gaza, ICE raids in the U.S. and the general rise of far-right politics around the world. In response, on Tuesday an open letter was sent to the Berlinale<\/a> from over 80 current or former participants of the festival \u2014 including Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem and Adam McKay \u2014 criticizing its \u201csilence\u201d on the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater in the press conference, Hawke was pressed on politics once again, with a reporter citing the open letter and asking about his stance on Gaza. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe last time I spoke publicly about any of this, I was really shocked about how much animosity it was met with,\u201d Hawke said candidly. \u201cYou know, people saying, \u2018Actors shouldn\u2019t talk about politics\u2019 and things like that. And I really feel like the answer is the absolute inverse, that everybody should be \u2014 we\u2019re all citizens of the world and all of us matter, all of us have a voice and everybody\u2019s welcome to disagree. That\u2019s part of the benefit of living in a free society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHawke said that celebrities tend to \u201cget microphones thrown in front of our faces, but it\u2019s not because we\u2019re telling people what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re just sharing art,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not some of the greatest minds in the world that try to make the planet live in peace.\u201d But he added that it should be a priority of every adult to \u201ctake care of all the children\u201d and \u201cthe young people in our lives, and make sure they have a good world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe ended his response by addressing the journalist directly. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s a slight agenda to your question that\u2019s different from my agenda,\u201d Hawke said. \u201cBut I respect you and I respect the question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHawke stars in Padraic McKinley\u2019s \u201cThe Weight,\u201d which has its European premiere as a Special Gala on Tuesday night, alongside Russell Crowe. Though Crowe was not at the press conference, Hawke was joined by his director and cast members Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Lucas Lynggaard T\u00f8nnesen and Sam Hazeldine.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Weight,\u201d which world premiered at Sundance Film Festival last month, follows \u201ca group of desperate convicts on a journey through a physically and morally treacherous backcountry,\u201d according to its synopsis. \u201cEthan Hawke gives a muscular performance as the film\u2019s reluctant but resourceful hero, while Russell Crowe is quietly menacing as his foil. Julia Jones brings dignity and defiance to her role as Anna, the sole woman in the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBerlin has long been a festival home for Hawke, who premiered all three of Richard Linklater\u2019s \u201cBefore\u201d films there. Last year, the duo debuted Lorenz Hart biopic \u201cBlue Moon\u201d in competition, which went on to earn Hawke best actor nominations at the Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes and SAG Actor Awards. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ethan Hawke weighed in on the current political debate at this year\u2019s Berlin Film Festival, pointing out that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[146588,6491,96,19493,157846,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-431372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-berlin-film-festival","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ethan-hawke","12":"tag-the-weight","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}