Fast Food Nation - Ethan Hawke interview
Compiled by Jack Foley
ETHAN Hawke talks about reuniting with director Richard Linklater on Fast Food Nation, the themes behind the film and his views on eating meat…
How did you get involved with this project?
Ethan Hawke: As far as getting involved with this project, this is the sixth movie I’ve made with Richard Linklater. I’ve loved working with him, and I’ve known about the project since he started thinking about it. He had this idea of how there’s a ripple effect in life. We all do effect each other – as we see in the film with my character. Sometimes the idea that we can’t change the world stops any of us from doing anything. But the truth is, we can make a difference in our own little way.
Primarily, through our family and friends. But that has a giant ripple effect because family and friends can make up a nation. I mean 100 years ago it was OK to be a racist. Then slowly, by individuals stopping their own personal racism, it became a shameful thing to be a racist. And at a certain point, it could be a shameful thing for these corporations to treat people the way they treat them. The idea is that individuals slowly really do make a difference.
When was the last time you ate fast food?
Ethan Hawke: The answer to that question is that I went on vacation with Richard Linklater and his daughter and my two kids. And because we were in a hurry, I bought my kids’ food at Burger King. But he didn’t. And I was a little ashamed of myself. It was about three years ago. And I decided, as my kids were shoving Chicken Nuggets in their mouths and his daughter was eating carrots and drinking water, that I felt I should take better care of my kids. So that was the last time. Problem is, it’s so convenient and easy and kids want to go there because the burgers come with toys, which is so awful.
So it changed your eating habits?
Ethan Hawke: It did, but my mother’s a giant animal rights activist and I have so many friends who’ve been talking to me about the food industry. And I decided I didn’t want do all this press and not be a vegetarian, so I’ve been trying very hard. I fail sometimes.
Do you think the film is trying to dictate what people should or shouldn’t eat?
Ethan Hawke: I don’t think the movie has an agenda about what people should and shouldn’t eat. The movie is more about showing you a portrait of what is, and if you want to do something about it, you can. It’s worth saying that nobody does more for the environment than hunters and fisherman.
The greatest environmentalists in the world are people who like to hunt and fish. There’s nothing wrong, per se, with eating meat but if you personally had to kill every cow that you ate, you would eat it about four times a year. Would you be that hungry that you’d want to slit its throat?
Are you worried about hurting your career with this film?
Ethan Hawke: Well, I finished working for Burger King when I was 18!
But the corporations now run the film industry…
Ethan Hawke: Yeah, Time Warner pays all our bills. A lot of us are probably working for the same people. There was this movie about the band Wilco, who got dropped by their label, only to be bought my another label that’s owned by the same company! We live in a very strange world.
Did you think when you first read Fast Food Nation that it would work as a film?
Ethan Hawke: From reading the book, you wouldn’t begin to know how they would make a movie. The book is really a textbook. The movie, I feel, is a portrait of America – a part of America you don’t often see, a very unglamorous America where the invisible hand of corporations is wrapped around the ventricles of its heart. It’s a very strange movie that sets up a protagonist, and then drops him half way through.
Greg Kinnear’s character learns all this information, feels deep down inside he should do something about it, but decides not to. He just walks through the sliding doors and heads home. I’m very proud of Rick. It’s a very strange film and not like other movies.
Are you as political as Eric [Schlosser] or Rick?
Ethan Hawke: No. They’re much more educated than I am. I think the world makes us more politically oriented or not. I certainly didn’t give a shit about politics, but when your country’s at war and you’re watching your environment be destroyed, then you become politicised. To what extent you educate yourself and to what extent you do anything about it, I don’t know.