Ethan Hawke on the quiet pleasures of Raymond And Ray—and acting opposite Ewan McGregor

And now for something completely different: Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor starring in a movie about two guys who spend most of the running time … talking. Between them, Hawke and McGregor have top-lined dozens of low-key movies, from Reality Bites and the Before trilogy (Sunrise, Sunset, and Midnight) to Beginners and Salmon Fishing In The Yemen. But neither has made anything quite like Raymond And Ray, and they’d never done anything together—until now.

Written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia (who guided McGregor in Last Days In The Desert), Raymond And Ray casts Hawke as Ray and McGregor as Raymond, estranged half-brothers who reunite after their father’s death for a sentimental and darkly funny road trip, discovering that pretty much everyone else in their father’s orbit—including his caregiver (Sophie Okonedo) and his last ex (Maribel Verdu)—loved the guy and found him interesting, charming, expressive, and eager to learn more about life and its mysteries.

Raymond And Ray is in theaters now, playing in limited release, and will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on October 21. The A.V. Club caught up with Hawke via Zoom for an early morning interview from his Brooklyn home. As the sun shone brightly on his face, and his dogs popped up on screen every few minutes, Hawke discussed collaborating with McGregor on Raymond And Ray, talked about his unpredictable project choices, and shared his excitement about the success of Maya Hawke, the oldest of his four children.

Ethan Hawke: I don’t know why it took so long. We were supposed to do a movie together, I want to say sometime right around 2000. It was an Andrew Niccol film we were both attached to, that didn’t end up happening. I thought it would happen many times over, but once it did happen, it was absolutely effortless. He’s a consummate pro, Ewan. He’s a classy person. He knows what he wants to do. He’s easy and funny. It extremely benefited the whole film that Ewan and Rodrigo had worked together before, and they had a shorthand. Oddly, Rodrigo was the cameraman on Reality Bites and Great Expectations, so I’d known him pretty well when I was younger, and we’d followed each other over the years. We’d been on the jury together at Sundance. We each had these different relationships, and then we formed a pretty easy working relationship.

AVC: The movie is a drama and a dark comedy. How tricky was it to thread that needle so the humor didn’t detract from the emotional beats?

EH: That was one of our biggest jobs, just finding the right tone. Like, “What’s the tone of this movie?” It sounds a little pretentious to say, but I can’t help it. When I first read the script, I thought, “Oh, this is like a Chekhov short story or something.” What I mean by that is the strange humanness and darkness, combined with eccentricity that is so funny, but rooted in normal human behavior. We are funny, even when we don’t mean to be.

AVC: You’ve done several big projects lately, including The Northman and Moon Knight. How refreshing was it to shoot something modest like Raymond And Ray, which primarily consists of two-hander scenes in a car, in a house, or at a cemetery?

EH: It was wonderful. There’s a simplicity to the movie that is the kind of filmmaking that is most generous towards the actor. It’s fun to get dressed up as a Viking king and ride horses in the snow. With Marvel, and having that big budget, it was fun, but a lot of things matter beyond the simplicity of acting. Raymond And Ray is such a gentle film, and such a human piece. Ewan was just coming off of Obi-Wan, so the two of us really enjoyed spending 10 minutes in hair and makeup, having no big production value, and just letting it be about real relationships.

AVC: One thing I’ve always appreciated about your career, and I think a lot of people do, is that nobody knows what you’ll do next. Is that the dislike of repeating yourself? Is it a thirst to try a bit of everything?

EH: I don’t know. What an interesting question. I kind of fall back on this expression I heard somebody say one time. An older actor once said to me, “One lifetime is not enough to be good at this.” If you, in the back of your mind, are seeking learning experiences, then you just gravitate towards something different, something new, something where you’re not sure how you’ll handle it. And now, I just enjoy it.

AVC: What’s happening with Revolver, the Beatles-themed movie that would team you up with your daughter, Maya?

EH: Maya and I have been talking about movies, acting, performance, music, and writing since she was a little kid. I feel certain that we’re going to work together soon. I don’t know if it’s going to be Revolver. I don’t know where that is. They’re trying to raise the money to make that movie. I don’t even know what the status of it is.

AVC: You and another of your kids, Clementine, joined Maya on stage during a concert last month in Hollywood. That must have been a proud dad moment…

EH: I took her younger sister to go see her in concert. She really wanted to see one of those concerts, so we went to see a couple of them in L.A., and it was a ball. Her new record is absolutely fabulous, and it was fun to see her connecting with her own generation in the way Stranger Things has connected with such a large audience. So many young people love that show, and they’re so passionate about it. I feel excited for her, because they’re all going to get to grow up together.

AVC: You’ve been there yourself as a child actor. How do you feel about your children entering the family business?

EH: I imagine that it’s pretty common throughout history. If somebody runs a clothing shop or a pizzeria, oftentimes their kids start running it or start their own restaurant. They have a head start because they’ve been watching the business at work, so they understand a lot of the nuances, having seen it as they grow up. What’s wonderful is seeing your kid do what they love to do. It’s thrilling to see Maya be so happy and excelling at what she does. I don’t care what it is that she does, as long as she loves it and her heart’s in it. As far as the other kids, they’re all a little younger, so it’ll be really interesting to see where they go. They love their big sister more than they love me. She’s a big influence on their psyche, too, now. Whether that pushes them away from the arts because they want to find their own thing, or whether that pushes them towards it, I don’t know.

AVC: Speaking of children, one of your current projects is the animated series Batwheels, which debuted on HBO Max a few weeks ago. How did that come about? How cool is it to play Batman?

EH: To be honest, I love animation, and I have been so grateful for how television is designed for young kids—it’s the babysitter when you don’t have one—that it felt like I should do something. Raising four kids, I spent so much of my life watching shows for young people that I felt it might be amusing to try to do one.