Most actors will tell you they’re in the business of acting for the craft, to hone their ability to portray a character convincingly, whether that character is a historical or political figure, a rock star, a robot, an alien, a robot alien, or some unholy fusion of the bunch. Sometimes, however, actors will simply take a gig just to work with a friend or someone they admire—and if there’s some extra money and security in that type of gig, then hey. For respected actor Ethan Hawke, the prospect of joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the Disney+ series Moon Knight appealed because it’d let him work with the show’s star, Oscar Isaac, while also being able to “put food on the table”—a perfect fusion of craft and commerce. Yet Hawke’s venture into the MCU occurred just as the bloated streaming market corrected itself in 2022, helping prompt Marvel Studios to dramatically refocus its TV slate. At least for now, any further appearances for Isaac’s Moon Knight and his villainous cult-freak character, Arthur Harrow, are kaput.
This turn of events didn’t keep Hawke, a pretty chill fellow by most accounts, from turning disappointment into opportunity. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about his recent roles, including his turn in the buzzy new period drama The Weight, Hawke said that Marvel’s belt-tightening didn’t rattle his career outlook because, as an actor, playing the heavy in a superhero TV show isn’t the extent of his ambitions. “I was kind of surprised [by Marvel’s streaming decision],” Hawke told THR. “None of us can exactly see the future. The future hasn’t gone the way that I thought it would in that regard, but that’s never been my bread and butter anyway. That’s not really what I do.” Knowing exactly where his bread is buttered as an actor has since led Hawke to star in, among other notable and high-profile projects, FX’s comic crime drama The Lowdown, which returns for its second season on October 14.
Asked whether he was “fazed” by the fact that his Marvel future, from this distance, has wrapped with a single-season commitment instead of being “a hotbed of employment,” Hawke played it cool (like, say, his shaggy journalist character Lee Raybon from The Lowdown), saying with unmitigated zen that he’s landed exactly where he’s “supposed to be.” “I haven’t really thought about it,” he said. “I never had a big agenda about being in that universe. My reason to do that show was largely built on my friendship with Oscar. He’s a really thrilling actor. I like the way he thinks, and he really wanted a good villain for that show.” He continued, “I was also interested in playing in the sandbox that everybody was watching. Part of being an artist is you have to make relevant art. You have to be in dialogue and in concert with your time. Marvel has owned a chapter of cinema history, so I enjoyed being a part of it. They were really good to me.”
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