Ethan Hawke Reveals the Harsh Criticism From Philip Seymour Hoffman That Unlocked a Key Performance

Ethan Hawke recalled some harsh criticism he got from Philip Seymour Hoffman that helped his performance in “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”

While talking about his career with Vanity Fair, the actor revealed that he got a stern talking to by Hoffman while on a break between takes of the Sidney Lumet film. It was that moment that helped him figure out everything he needed to know about the character.

“Phil was great – and by that, I mean, he didn’t suffer fools lightly,” Hawke said. “He was one of those people that it just felt life and death to him whether or not we did the scene well. The stakes were very high for him, and it could be scary. I remember once we were rehearsing, and it’s when I found the character, it’s gonna sound mean, I think, but it wasn’t mean. We were rehearsing and I was, I don’t know, pouring some coffee on a break, and I said, ‘I just have no idea who this guy is.’”

He continued: “And Phil said, ‘You wanna know why?’ I’m like, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘Cause you keep trying to play alpha, and I’m the alpha. Stop it.’ And for some reason it all just clicked. It’s like he started a dynamic between the two of us that was right. Power and status in brothers, in society, it all plays a game.”

The 2007 crime thriller follows Hoffman and Hawke as older and younger brothers. The older is a debt-addled broker who convinces his younger sibling to rob their family’s jewelry store. The job is botched and their father (Albert Finney) takes the hunt for the criminals into his own hands not knowing he’s pursuing his own sons.

Hawke remembered that Lumet leaned into their brotherly rivalry to pull better performances out of both himself and Hoffman.

“Sidney Lumet fanned the flames of it,” he said. “I’d come in in the morning and Sidney would say, ‘I saw dailies last night. Phil is so good. He’s so good. You know, not since Marlon Brando have I seen work like that.’ And I’d be like, ‘Yeah, great, great. And my stuff was—.’ ‘Oh yeah, yeah, it was fine. I mean, it must be a real honor to work with him.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it is. It’s a real honor.’”

Hawke finished: “At wrap of the movie, I went up to Phil and I said, ‘You know, this has been a great experience, but I’m so glad it’s over. Because if I gotta hear one more time from that old dog that, ‘Not since Marlon Brando have I seen work like this …’ and Phil goes, ‘He said that to you?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘He said that to me every day about you.’ We walked over to Sidney and we said,
‘You told us both the other one was like Marlon Brando.’ He’s like, ‘Eh, you guys are so easy to play. It’s unbelievable.’”