Ethan Hawke thinks we live in a “petrifying time” to speak about “male sexuality”.
Ethan Hawke
The 50-year-old actor-and-author thinks sexual identity is a huge part of life and though he wanted to write openly about sex in his new novel ‘A Bright Ray of Darkness’, he had doubts because he feared a backlash in the wake of the rise of "cancel culture".
In an interview with The Observer The New Review, he said: “Our sexual identity and the relationship we have through it, to ourselves and to others, is defining in our lives.
“And in the light of cancel culture and shaming – while a lot of this moment is very helpful – it’s a difficult time to say, ‘I want to be open about the idiosyncrasies of human sexuality.’
“What’s that great Mark Twain line? ‘The aim of art is to alleviate shame.’ We’re in this period now when you can’t even write about bad behaviour because it might seem like you’re condoning it.
“You have to be able to create a character who does things they wish they didn’t do.
“I went back and forth on it, because it’s just a petrifying time to speak about male sexuality.”
But ultimately, the ‘Training Day’ star - who is married to Ryan Shawhughes and was previously married to his 'Gattaca' co-star Uma Thurman - felt it was an important subject to address.
He said: “If you can’t shine a light into dark corners, the demons that live there will never go away.”
Ethan is grateful for the coronavirus lockdown because it’s finally allowed him some time to read for pleasure.
He said: “My reading habits have been demolished by an acting career and children.
“If we were best friends, the thing I’d confess to you, a thing that really hurts, is how few books I read.
“And it has decreased in recent years, because I have so many scripts that people want me to read.
“Every time I want to open up a novel, I’m haunted by the fact that I haven’t read those four scripts that my friends sent me.
“So lockdown has enabled me to do some reading for pleasure.”
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