Ethan Hawke Unveils the Way Robert Redford Supported His Career After Saying No to Him for A River Runs Through It

Ethan Hawke Remembers Robert Redford’s Influence

Hawke was just a week off from commenting on Redford’s death and we find him on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show remembering how Redford impacted his life, thus making a U-turn in his initial decision after a rejection letter to him for a major role.
Hawke, 54, mentioned the event of his audition for the 1992 Redford film A River Runs Through It during the Sept. 24 Jimmy Kimmel Live episode. Although Redford chose Sheffer and Pitt over Hawke, the latter still referred to Redford as “one of the heroes of my life.”

A Young Actor’s Nerve-Wracking Audition

One of the experiences Ethan Hawke remembers most vividly from his childhood days is when he had to audition in front of Robert Redford.
“So this is what the life of a young actor looks like – it’s hard, it’s great. You get an audition for Robert Redford, right?” Hawke told Jimmy Kimmel. “And I get this little speech that I am supposed to know by heart and it is really long – it is like a page and a half. I stay up all night working on this speech. I’m working on it, I’m working on it, I come into the audition, I’m half an hour early, sitting in a chair like this. They let me in, ‘Mr. Redford will see you now.'”

From Dead Poets to Redford’s Room

Hawke said that his pivotal part in The Dead Poets Society (1989) not only propelled him into the limelight but also opened up the door to hearing with Robert Redford, which is among the most popular places. “I came there for the audition, he greeted me with a shake of his hand, and said, ‘Hey Ethan. It seems to me that you are from Austin,'” Hawke remembered, adding that the room was decorated with the pictures of Redford’s old films – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Downhill Racer, The Candidate and so on.

Starstruck in Front of a Hero

Hawke admitted that the moment shortly after had really overwhelmed him. “He knew my name and he knew where I was from. My brain started to break,” he told Kimmel. When Redford asked if he was ready to read, Hawke replied: “To be completely honest, sir, I think I am starstruck. I am not quite sure I can breathe properly, and if I could just have like 60 seconds to step out of the room and come back again, I will be ready.”
Instead of letting him restart, Redford gave him the instruction to return the next day with the speech he had prepared all night. Hawke jokingly said that he was gutted by the hold back, calling the wait “absolute torture”.

Redford’s Encouraging Rejection

When Redford finally got to see Hawke his audition, he unexpectedly responded with a candid and thoughtful critique. “You know I’m an actor,” said Redford, “I always give actors a second chance with notes, but you were perfect. You’re going to have an amazing career. I just think you’re too young for this role but it was great to meet you.”
The words made Hawke agree that they were a bit of a double-edged sword. “It was a stab in the heart not to get the part and to hear it right in the face but it was the truth,” he said. “At the same time he put me in a good spot by saying that I’d have a real career. I couldn’t decide whether to feel good or bad.”

Redford’s Long-Term Support

Just a short time after the A River Runs Through It audition, Hawke shared that Redford had come to see his off-Broadway play. “He came backstage after the show and said to me ‘Good job, I tell you, it will work out well with you, keep it up,'” Hawke recalled.
That support and visit really meant a lot to Hawke and was the two actors’ friendship pact which they later on had a long-standing relationship together. Hawke even disclosed what were Redford’s last words to him before his passing on Sept. 16.

Remembering Redford’s Legacy

Hawke chuckled at the memory of Redford’s amusing last message to him: “He said, ‘Stop wearing a cowboy hat, people will think you are losing your hair.’ It must have been around 18 months ago. So I just wanted to bring him up, because he is a legend.”
The actor also pointed out that Redford’s real influence was from his kindness to the less known, the new, the young artists. “After Before Sunrise got released and the audience didn’t like the film, do you know who liked it? Robert Redford. And he used it to open the 1995 Sundance Film Festival,” Hawke said. “He was a supporter of the others, and he knew how to use his power to give power to others.”

Final Days and Lasting Film Legacy

Per The New York Times, Robert Redford’s death took place at his home near Provo. His publicist informed the paper that he died in his sleep, no death-causing details were mentioned.
While Redford’s towering rebellious Western and festival darling directorial works have been overlooked by many, he still retains his stellar career with his biggest and most popular of films: The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), All the President’s Men (1976), The Natural (1984), Indecent Proposal (1993), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and All Is Lost (2013).