Entertainment
Ethan Hawke on “Blue Moon,” and taking nothing for granted
Nearly a hundred years ago, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart helped put the “great” in the Great American Songbook, with songs like “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “Blue Moon.”
But by the early 1940s, Hart’s heavy drinking made him an unreliable partner. So, Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II, and their first production, the landmark musical “Oklahoma!” opened at the St. James Theatre on March 31, 1943.
It was an immediate hit, and that night there was a big party a few doors down at Sardi’s, that legendary Broadway watering hole, with its walls hung with the caricatures of famous faces. Lorenz Hart showed up at Sardi’s that night, and what happened next is now a movie.
In “Blue Moon,” Ethan Hawke is Hart, drowning his sorrows at the bar.
Sony Pictures Classics 
For the film, they re-created Sardi’s on a soundstage, but “Sunday Morning” met Hawke at the real thing.
“I was definitely the type of young person that would walk in and think, ‘When am I gonna get my painting up there?'” he said. “I’m not above that. I’m a little heartbroken that I don’t have one up yet!”
Perhaps his time will come. “My time’s coming,” he said. “I have hope. I’m not done yet!”
And this performance is proof: the real Lorenz Hart was less than five feet tall, so director and frequent Hawke collaborator Richard Linklater used camera tricks to make the 5’9″ actor look short. Hawke also shaved the top of his head to make a real combover, and he learned a mountain of dialogue.
“It’s definitely the most text I’ve ever had in a movie,” Hawke said. “I remember calling my wife after the first day – I think I had more lines than I had in the previous five films.”
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It was a challenge for an actor whose face usually says it all. In the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society,” Hawke played a student, and he says he learned a lot from co-star Robin Williams. “There’s a scene where he’s talking about how to grade poetry, and he has all the kids rip it out – I didn’t realize how much I was being taught, and how that sustained me through negative criticism. It’s like, there’s not any rules about being a great actor. Drop dead. So you don’t like it? Suck an egg. You don’t know what great acting is any more than I do.”
I asked, “When you’re in a movie like that so young, does it set you up? Or does it set you up?”
“It’s a great question, ’cause it’s possibly both,” he replied. “If you let it be the high-water mark of your life, it will be, you know, if you put too much on that. You don’t want anything at 18 to be the high-water mark of your life.”
Between movies, Hawke made his Broadway debut with, he says, a lot more confidence than skill. “That’s the weird thing about being young. I had no business being confident at anything. I was a total moron. And I walked in here like I was, you know, John Barrymore.”
His performance in Chekhov’s “The Seagull” (1992) was described as “promising.” But it was clear that his best work was ahead of him.
Hawke got the first of four Oscar nominations for his role in the 2001 film “Training Day” opposite Denzel Washington. His performance still resonates. Hawke said, “When my son was about six, Levon, he said to me, ‘Dad, what’s “Training Day?”‘ I said, ‘Oh, it’s the movie I did a few years ago. Why?’ He said, “’cause every time we walk down the street, when people pass you, they say, “Training Day”!'”
But after “Training Day,” there was a time when Hawke says he passed on more parts than he took – and the offers started drying up. “When you’re young, you think it’s everybody. You don’t realize that This is a young person’s game, and those kinds of job offers, there’s a shelf life on that.”
“When did your shelf life, when did that hit?” I asked.
“Around the same time gray starts appearing in your beard,” he replied.
The gray in the beard works for him now, as a hard-nosed investigative reporter in the critically-acclaimed FX series “The Lowdown.” In the series, you never know what’s around the next corner – just as in real life. As we were wrapping up at Sardi’s, owner Max Klimavicius suddenly showed up with a surprise for Hawke: “Ethan, I would like your permission to make you part of our collection,” he said.
He was a bit stunned, and to be honest, so were we. But after Ethan Hawke’s career on screen and stage, it wasn’t all that surprising.
“Wow!” he said. “It finally happened. I’ve got my portrait at Sardi’s. I’ve arrived! Things are looking up in this life!”
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And now, with his latest film in mind, there’s talk of more accolades to come.
How does he handle the Oscar buzz surrounding “Blue Moon”? Does he tune it out? He said, “There’s the obvious other part of you that goes, like, ‘Hey, I dedicated my life to this job, and this is seen as a barometer.’ And I would be dishonest if I didn’t say that, like, that would be amazing.
“This is so corny, but it just flashed through my head: I was like 11 or something, I said to my mother, ‘What’s gonna happen with my life? What’s gonna happen?’ And she – and I remember it so vividly – in the kitchen, like Doris Day [sings] ‘When I was just a little girl…’ you know, it goes into ‘Que Sera, Sera.’
“You have to have a little ‘Que Sera, Sera.’ I don’t take any of it for granted. That’s, I guess, the right answer. Any little bit of it.”
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Ethan Hawke
To watch a trailer for “Blue Moon” click on the video player below:
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Ed Givnish.
Patti LaBelle has been singing for six decades, earning hit records, Grammys and the nickname the “Godmother of Soul.” As she celebrates her 82nd birthday on Sunday, she said she’s “having fun living it down.”
“At 82, I am really living it down, not up. But having fun living it down. I play cards. We have card games on Saturday nights,” LaBelle said. “How easy is it to play cards and take other folks’ money? That’s what I do, and I love it.”
Just like her high notes, she has staying power. LaBelle is still professionally singing, something she said she has to do.
“Singing is my life,” she said, adding that her voice is “big. It’s loud. It’s soft. It can rap. It can do opera, on a good day.”
LaBelle spent her childhood in Philadelphia, a place she still calls home. Back then, she was a shy girl named Patsy Holt.
“My mother had to pay me to go outside. I was very, very, very shy. I would sing in my bedroom with the broom as a microphone. So I knew I had a voice and my mother and father loved my voice,” LaBelle said.
At age 10, she joined a church choir where a duet unlocked the magic of performing. She said she still remembers getting the chills the moment when everyone stood up and said, “Hallelujah.”
As a teen, she started singing with a group. A record label executive suggested she change her name to LaBelle, which means beautiful, but with that advice came a nasty assessment. He called her “quite ugly.”
“It gave me hurt, just total, total hurt, because I knew how much he loved my voice. And I knew, no matter what anyone said about me, I am who I am, I’m not gonna change. The only thing that changed was my nose. I had a huge nose, so I had it done,” she said. “And that’s all I’ve ever had done. My nose, because it was not pleasing to me.”
When Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles became simply Labelle, they changed their style to what the singer described as “outrageous crazy outfits.” They turned “Lady Marmalade,” a song about a Creole prostitute, into a classic hit.
“We were singing about the revolution and sexual things before any Black girl or White girl group sang,” LaBelle said.
“When we sang [Lady Marmalade], we didn’t know what ‘voulez-vous coucher avec moi’ meant. It means, ‘Will you sleep with me tonight?’ So we got a lotta flak from the nuns and different people. And I was saying, at that time, ‘Well, a hooker has to make money too,'” she laughed.
The group split in 1977 but stayed friends. LaBelle said she was petrified when she stepped out as a solo artist for the first time. Getting therapy “helped a whole lot,” she said.
“I learned that I’m never gonna stop singing. And if it’s with a group or alone, that’s what I’m gonna do for the rest of my life,” LaBelle said.
LaBelle’s other talent is cooking. She’s written several bestselling cookbooks and has her own line of food and houseware products, Patti’s Good Life. Her hometown is filled with fans, and even visiting a Philadelphia ShopRite to hand out pancake mix caused quite a stir.
LaBelle isn’t planning to give up singing anytime soon.
“It’s never my last show. I’ll be singing until I can’t no more,” she said.
And on her 82nd birthday, maybe the real gift is that LaBelle knows exactly who she is — a mother, grandmother, and yes, a legend.
“I love it. I should be called, ‘Legend, legend, legend, legend.’ Yes. I love it,” she laughed. “I have earned it. Yes, I have.”
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Patti LaBelle (Video)
Drake has made Billboard chart history, becoming the first artist ever to simultaneously occupy the top three positions on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Iceman, the album he had been building towards for nearly two years, debuted at number one with 463,000 equivalent album units in its first week.
Behind it, Habibti landed at number two with 114,000 units and Maid of Honour at number three with 110,000, all three released on the same night in a surprise triple drop that caught even the most devoted fans off guard.
The number one position alone would have been a landmark.
Iceman gives Drake his 15th chart-topping album, surpassing Jay-Z’s previous record for the most number ones among solo male artists and R&B and hip-hop acts.
It also draws him level with Taylor Swift for the most number ones among solo acts overall, a list only the Beatles sit above, with their record of 19.
In terms of raw numbers, Iceman‘s opening week is the second biggest of 2026 so far, behind only BTS’ Arirang, which moved 641,000 units. It is, however, the biggest opening week of the year for any R&B or hip-hop record.
The rest of the Billboard 200 reshuffled accordingly.
Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide, previously sitting at number one, dropped to four.
Ella Langley’s Dandelion holds at five, followed by Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem, two Michael Jackson titles, Lucki’s Dr*gs R Bad, and BTS’ Arirang rounding out the top ten.
For Drake, it is a statement of intent, and one that lands in the record books before the conversation has even fully begun.
The first trailer for The Odyssey has sparked major discussion online, with the reaction becoming far more intense than many fans expected.
Director Christopher Nolan is known for highly praised films, so excitement around The Odyssey was already huge before the teaser arrived.
However, soon after the trailer was released, it became one of the most disliked videos connected to Nolan on YouTube.
A large part of the backlash came from online rumours about Elliot Page possibly appearing in the movie.
Fans began sharing theories that Page could be playing Achilles after noticing certain moments in the trailer and discussing possible casting clues online.
Although nothing has been officially confirmed, the rumours quickly led to heated arguments across social media.
The trailer also faced criticism from some viewers who felt Nolan’s version of the classic Greek story looked too modern.
Others compared it to fantasy blockbusters that have already been released in recent years.
At the same time, many fans defended the teaser and praised its cinematography, scale and cast.
The movie stars Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson.
Even with the backlash, the controversy has only made more people curious about the film before its July 2026 release.
Shop numbers return to growth after years of decline, say experts
Drake sets new record at ‘Iceman,’ ‘Habibti’ and ‘Maid of Honour’
Patti LaBelle on being called a legend: “I have earned it”
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