During a new interview with GQ<\/a>, the Oscar-nominated actor took aim at wealthy power players, blasting “greedy bastards” who think they control every aspect of Hollywood and predicting a major rebellion against the industry.<\/p>\n “I believe in rebellion. And I think people are going to wake up and punch back and there\u2019s going to be massive movements in music and massive movements in live theater and massive movements of people getting together,” Hawke said.<\/p>\n FROM \u2018SCREAM\u2019 TO STREAM: JAMIE KENNEDY REVEALS HOW HOLLYWOOD LOST ITS WAY AND WHY HE WON’T GIVE UP ON LA<\/a><\/p>\n Ethan Hawke spoke about the “greedy bastards” who believe they control Hollywood. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n “So don\u2019t worry that the money and the greedy bastards that think they control everybody, they always lose in the end,” he continued. “And they\u2019re all going in the grave eventually. They think they\u2019re winning, but they\u2019re losing because their lives are worthless.”<\/p>\n Hawke also expressed frustration with the financial pressures shaping Hollywood, arguing that the projects actors care about most often come with the smallest paychecks.<\/p>\n TRUMP, SCHIFF FORGE UNLIKELY ALLIANCE AS HOLLYWOOD BLEEDS JOBS<\/a><\/p>\n “There’s a direct correlation. I find that the more you love a project, the less you get paid,” he said. “If you want to beat the algorithm, it’s very difficult to do that and be paid.”<\/p>\n Hawke found fame at a young age. (Matt Winkelmeyer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n This isn’t the first time Hawke has spoken about the pitfalls of Hollywood<\/a>.<\/p>\n ROBERT DOWNEY JR. SLAMS MODERN CELEBRITY CULTURE AS ‘ABSOLUTE HORSES—‘<\/a><\/p>\n Last year, the actor called celebrity a “poison” for a young actor’s brain.<\/p>\n During an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience<\/a>,” Hawke got candid about his start in Hollywood as a young man and reflected on the psychological effect of becoming famous at a young age.<\/p>\n “I think celebrity is like a tiny drop of mercury. Or it’s poison. It’s poison for your brain,” the actor said. “To be a professional actor at a young age, it’s dangerous in extremely insidious ways that are very, very hard to perceive when it’s happening,” Hawke said.<\/p>\n Rogan<\/a> compared the experience of becoming famous as a child to concrete. If concrete is made incorrectly, with the wrong amount of water or cement, that’s it, he explained. Rogan added that once it dries there is no way to repair or fix it.<\/p>\n Ethan Hawke at the 2026 BAFTAs on Feb. 22. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n DISNEY ALUM CHRISTY CARLSON ROMANO RIPS HOLLYWOOD FOR FAILING CHILD STARS AFTER HAYDEN PANETTIERE\u2019S DEATH<\/a><\/p>\n “That analogy works for all walks of life. Really. If you have something really traumatic happen in childhood, it’s very hard to recover. It’s a tremendous amount of work to recover. And I agree with you, like I think celebrity is like a tiny drop of mercury. Or it’s a poison. It’s a poison for your brain,” Hawke said.<\/p>\n During his GQ interview, Hawke expressed the same sentiment.<\/p>\n “I wouldn\u2019t be the first person to say that there\u2019s an aspect of celebrity that is like a disease,” he said. “And you can handle little bits of it, but too much of it \u2014 we can see what happened to Elvis and we can see Michael Jackson. It\u2019s a form of isolation. It\u2019s like being put in a zoo, and zoo animals go nuts. So do human beings.”<\/p>\n “And it seems like a kind of nice isolation because people are giving you money, and they\u2019re telling you you\u2019re wonderful, but nobody\u2019s being real with you,” he continued. “And that makes people insane. And they start scratching, trying to find some real life. And sometimes people do that with drugs, some people do that with acting out or getting in fights or whatever the ways that people do it.”<\/p>\n Hawke once referred to celebrity as a “poison.” (Gareth Cattermole\/Getty Images for BFI)<\/p>\n Last year, fellow actor Dakota Johnson also ripped into Hollywood, calling the industry an absolute “mess.”<\/p>\n During her appearance on the show “Hot Ones<\/a>,” Johnson was asked why “Hollywood is risk-averse.”<\/p>\n “I think it\u2019s hard when creative decisions are made by a committee, and it\u2019s hard when creative decisions are made by people who don\u2019t even really watch movies or know anything about them \u2026 that tends to be what\u2019s occurring a lot,” Johnson shared with host Sean Evans.<\/p>\n Johnson, who has grown up in the business as the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, is no stranger to the inner workings of Hollywood.<\/p>\n![\"Ethan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ethan-hawke-telluride-film-festival.jpg\")
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