Ethan Hawke: Directing Robin Williams in ‘Dead Poets Society’ Was Not Easy

According to Variety, Ethan Hawke received the President’s Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and spoke about Robin Williams and “Dead Poets Society.”

He said: “I think Robin Williams was important to all of us. For me, ‘Dead Poets Society’ played a very important role in my life.”

Hawke said Williams was the first big star he had seen up close, and when you act in a movie with such a personality, there is always the risk that the younger actor will not be seen and will be overshadowed by him.

He added: “He was very witty, imaginative, and creative, and he brought all of this into his acting, and for that reason, it was really hard to direct him. You didn’t know what to do to give him direction. That’s why director Peter Weir told me, ‘He likes you and admires you, and if you are really in your character, he will do the same and stay in his character.'”

Hawke said this was the best compliment he had ever received in his life, and for him, it was like a lightsaber with which he could capture Williams’s attention.

He added: “The more I was in the character of Todd, the more John Keating (Robin Williams’s character) was in his own character, and that’s how we were able to create really great scenes.”