Ethan Hawke was in New Orleans last Friday for a photo shoot for Rolling Stone magazine when a publicist disturbed his sleep to remind him that he had agreed to a telephone interview with the Deseret News.
Hawke was gracious enough, but there's no question that he was still waking up when he made the call. And during the 15-minute conversation he could manage little more than "yup" and "nope" answers most of the way. "Sorry," he said a couple of times, "I'm just tired.""Ethan is not a morning person," explained Richard Linklater later in the day. "You weren't getting him at his best."
Linklater is co-writer/director of "Before Sunrise," which stars Hawke and French actress Julie Delpy. The film kicks off the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Crossroads Plaza. It's the showpiece of the festival, the opening night event - and Linklater, Hawke and Delpy are all expected to be in attendance.
And, in truth, Hawke's night-owl tendencies perfectly suit his character in the film, which is a 24-hour romance about a young American man who meets a young French woman on a European train. Hawke's character is going to Vienna to catch a plane back home; Delpy's character is heading for Paris.
After some stimulating conversation, however, they are getting along so well they don't want it to end. So, when they arrive in Vienna, she agrees to get off the train so they can spend some more time together.
For the rest of the day and night - and the rest of the film - they walk and talk and get to know each other while wandering around the city.
The two-character comedy-drama is the perfect Sundance vehicle, according to festival program director Geoff Gilmore. "What's exciting about this is that it's so different from anything Linklater's ever done. You look at `Slacker,' you look at `Dazed and Confused,' and then you see this. It's romantic, it's a melodrama, it's almost European in its sensibility. It's two people talking to each other for 90 minutes."
"It's a big honor," says Linklater, whose first film, "Slacker," was in competition at the 1991 festival. "I had no expectations. We had our one preview in L.A., and Geoff was at the screening."
Linklater adds that the Sundance Film Festival "is really important, besides being the most prestigious. And it's great as a filmmaker to go there, because you meet a lot of other filmmakers who are in the same place in their careers. It's very big on camaraderie."
Hawke says working on "Before Sunrise" got him excited about making movies in a way he hadn't felt since he began his career. "It was one of the most creatively fulfilling since I first worked on a movie, because Rick kind of makes his own world.
"The extended intimacy of the movie was difficult. The hard thing about this movie is that you can't do anything. The whole thrust of Rick's work is real life and real people - no moments of weeping or shooting people. It's all very quiet - just talking to someone.
"I like all movies but these tend to be better written - because they have to be well-written."
Gilmore agrees and applauds its range. "It's not a twentysomething film - it's about romance, it's about life, it's about decisions. Yes, it's infused with views, but, boy, it's infused with memories. I don't think there's anybody who won't respond to this on some level and say, `Yeah, I know what you're talking about, there's something there.'
"But it's not totally mainstream, either. You can't have a film where two people sit and talk to each other the whole time and say that it's mainstream. It's quite challenging on some levels, the range of things they get into is challenging. The audience that goes in there looking for the hipper than hip sensibility are going to be surprised."
And if you couldn't get tickets to the festival premiere of "Before Sunrise," do not despair. The film opens in theaters next week - on Friday, Jan. 27.
In addition to "Before Sunrise," Hawke has a small role in another festival premiere film, the mystery-thriller "The Usual Suspects," which also features such familiar faces as Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Spacey and Kevin Pollak.
Last year Hawke was also in Park City for the Sundance festival, co-starring with Winona Ryder in the premiere film "Reality Bites" and popping up in a small cameo in the competition film "Floundering."
But Hawke is most animated about audience reaction to "Straight to One," a 20-minute movie he directed that was featured last year in a special program of shorts. "As far as my short was concerned, it was a real blessing to get an audience of (strangers). That was really exciting to me. There's no real venue for short films. I never thought this piece was funny at all, and people laughed."
Linklater says that in order for "Before Sunrise" to work, he had to have the right actors in the lead roles. "Casting was the single most crucial thing to the movie. I'd met Julie first and she always stayed in my mind. But when she read with Ethan in New York, I said, `Yes, she's it!'
"I had seen Ethan and thought, `He seems kind of young.' But then I saw him in person and in a play, and I got to talking to him. He was skeptical at first - he is very emotional that way. He had to feel his way into it. It's not something an artist like Ethan can jump right into."
Hawke's character has a light goatee and wears a leather jacket and ill-fitting jeans, a mild grunge look. "That's his own black leather jacket. And we had to cut his hair. It was too long, just too grunge. We were either going to cut the beard and leave the hair or shave the beard and leave the hair. . . ."
- THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL moves to Park City on Friday, Jan. 20, for the bulk of events. But there are also films being shown in the Provo area and in Salt Lake City.
The world premiere of the romantic comedy "Miami Rhapsody," starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Mia Farrow, will be held Friday at 7 p.m. in the Academy Theater in Provo with the stars in attendance.
A series of daily screenings at the Tower Theater in Salt Lake City begins Friday and continues through the festival's run. Many filmmakers and actors will also introduce films there.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
For festival information, phone 328-FILM (328-3456); for ticket information, phone 322-1700. All theaters and auditoriums are in Park City, except the Tower, which is in Salt Lake City (876 E. 900 South), and the Sundance Screening Room, which is at the Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon.
FRIDAY, JAN. 20
Egyptian: "Window to Paris" 10 a.m., "A Litany for Survival" 1 p.m., "Heavy" 4 p.m., "The Addiction" 7 p.m., "Postcards from America" 10 p.m., "The Billy Nayer Chronicles" midnight.
Holiday I: "Shorts Program II" 10 a.m., "Family Portrait Sittings" 1 p.m., "Out of Ireland" 4 p.m., "Black Is . . . Black Ain't" 7 p.m., "Growing Up" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Jupiter's Wife" 10:20 a.m., "The Silences of the Palace" 1:20 p.m., "Crumb" 4:20 p.m., "Back to Back, Face to Face" 7:20 p.m., "New Jersey Drive" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "The Devil Never Sleeps" 10:40 a.m., "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" 1:40 p.m., TBA 4:40 p.m., "Program I" 7:40 p.m., "The Young Poisoner's Handbook" 11 p.m.
Prospector: "Chili's Blues" 9:30 a.m., "The Garden of Eden" noon, "Angela" 3 p.m., "Gatica the Monkey" 6 p.m., "Before Sunrise" 9 p.m.
Library: "The Four Corners of Nowhere" 9:30 a.m., "Party Girl" 12:30 p.m., "When Billy Broke His Head . . ." 3:30 p.m., "Shorts Program III" 6:30 p.m., "Living in Oblivion" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "Unzipped" 8 p.m.
Tower: "Fall Time" 6 p.m., "Once Were Warriors" 8:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, JAN. 21
Egyptian: "No Loans Today" 9:30 a.m., "The Brothers McMullen" 11:30 a.m., "Unzipped" 2:30 p.m., Piper-Heidsieck Tribute to Nicolas Cage 7:30 p.m., "Shorts Program I" 10 p.m., "Plan Ten from Outer Space" midnight.
Holiday I: "Shorts Program V" 10 a.m., "Ballot Measure 9" 1 p.m., "Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter" 4 p.m., "Ecological Design" 7 p.m., "Family Members" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Cold Blooded" 10:20 a.m., "Shorts Program IV" 1:20 p.m., "Klash" 4:20 p.m., "Homage" 7:20 p.m., "Wild at Heart" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "Tie-Died" 10:40 a.m., "The Wife" 1:40 p.m., "No Mercy" 4:40 p.m., "Life and Death of the Hollywood Kid" 7:40 p.m., "Fall Time" 10:40 p.m.
Prospector: "The Addiction" 9:30 a.m., "Words Upon the Window Pane" noon, "Parallel Sons" 3 p.m., "Double Happiness" 6 p.m., "In the Heat of the Sun" 9 p.m.
Library: "Love Burns" 9:30 a.m., "Nadja" 12:30 p.m., "Naked Jane" 3:30 p.m., "Picture Bride" 6:30 p.m., "Miami Rhapsody" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" 4:30 p.m.
Tower: "New Jersey Drive" 6 p.m., "Before Sunrise" 8:30 p.m., "The Billy Nayer Chronicles" midnight.