Ethan Hawke is currently in Germany for the Berlin Film Festival. The Berlinale has already caused major international headlines, mostly related to politics. There’s a really weird energy, from what I can tell. It seems that all of the international entertainment journalists at the festival have been pressing every celebrity (especially the Americans) about domestic American politics and international politics. All while the festival organizers seem to have made an effort to discourage political talk. Neil Patrick Harris got into trouble over the weekend when he was basically like, art isn’t political, I’m not here to talk about politics. Well, now Ethan Hawke has stepped in it too.

Ethan Hawke weighed in on the current political debate at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, pointing out that “jet-lagged, drunk artists” may not be the best people to look to for guidance. During the press conference for his new historical drama “The Weight,” the Oscar-nominated actor was asked his position on the responsibility of big names to speak out on topics like fascism. He took a moment to contemplate the question before saying: “Alright… the last place you probably want to look for advice in your spiritual counsel is a bunch of jet-lagged, drunk artists talking about their films.”

After laughter and applause from the room, Hawke added, “I believe in the power of cinema to affect… you know how every night we all dream and those dreams kind of heal us and get us ready for the next day? I feel like, collectively, the whole festival — all of you, all of us here — are responsible for creating an international dream life. What is it? What are our dreams? What are we talking about? What are we thinking about?”

He said one of the reasons he loves “The Weight” is because “at it’s core, it’s about a group of people who don’t think they have anything in common who band together to fight institutional greed and malevolence. And that’s worth fighting for.” However, Hawke concluded his answer with a more direct answer to the reporter’s question: “Anything that fights fascism, I’m all for it.”

Later in the press conference, Hawke was pressed on politics once again, with a reporter citing the open letter and asking about his stance on Gaza.

“The last time I spoke publicly about any of this, I was really shocked about how much animosity it was met with,” Hawke said candidly. “You know, people saying, ‘Actors shouldn’t talk about politics’ and things like that. And I really feel like the answer is the absolute inverse, that everybody should be — we’re all citizens of the world and all of us matter, all of us have a voice and everybody’s welcome to disagree. That’s part of the benefit of living in a free society.”

Hawke said that celebrities tend to “get microphones thrown in front of our faces, but it’s not because we’re telling people what to do.”

“We’re just sharing art,” he said. “We’re not some of the greatest minds in the world that try to make the planet live in peace.” But he added that it should be a priority of every adult to “take care of all the children” and “the young people in our lives, and make sure they have a good world.”

He ended his response by addressing the journalist directly. “I feel like there’s a slight agenda to your question that’s different from my agenda,” Hawke said. “But I respect you and I respect the question.”

[From Variety]

Maybe it’s because I’m a fan of Hawke, but I don’t have a problem with what he says here, and I find his statements to have a completely different tone than Neil Patrick Harris’s “I’m apolitical” bullsh-t. No one doubts that Ethan Hawke has a lot of opinions about everything, including politics. And no one doubts that Ethan Hawke is against fascism, correct? That he’s justifiably horrified by what’s happening in America? This doesn’t come across as rejecting the connection between art and politics, it comes across (to me) as Ethan trying to be mindful and respectful. He’s trying NOT to mouth-off about this or that.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.