Ethan Hawke

It doesn't mean anything.

So it kind of taught me at a really young age about to ask yourself why you're doing something.

You know, like, are you doing it for the result of what happens or are you doing it to do it?

And by coming back to acting a few years later, I was just fully braced for it not to go well and it was still going to be worth it.

And so I think it gave me a slight bit of ballast to handle the success of Dead Points.

You went into it for the enjoyment of doing it rather than thinking you were going to be a star.

I had no expectations, but I was certain I wasn't going to be a star.

I was positive of it.

I saw it as a way to make some money and maybe learn about writing and learn about film and a way to get out of college.

Now, what happened is when I got there,

I met all these other young men who were in love with acting.

And I started watching movies with them and talking about movies with them and seeing the light in their eyes.

And we'd go to set, and there was Robin Williams.

We had Peter Weir, who had just directed Witness, one of my favorite movies of all time at that point.

And he was a master.

I mean, he was not a lightweight human being.

He was a heavyweight human being.

And he would lead rehearsals and he would talk about acting and performance in a way that I hadn't... Well, you know, I heard people talk about it that way when we were doing St.

Joan, when I was doing the... Like, he talked about it like we were making art and like we were on a mission beyond success or failure.

And it was an invitation to a lifestyle, a life commitment.