'Like riding a bike': Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke on the magic of 'Blue Moon'

The role is a far cry from the dashing young leading man who wowed audiences when he broke through decades ago with 1989 coming-of-age drama "Dead Poets Society" and Gen X classic "Reality Bites" a few years later.

But his portrayal of legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart, an alcoholic who drank himself out of one of America's most famous songwriting partnerships, is a tour-de-force -- one that has landed the 55-year-old an Oscar nomination for best actor.

The dialogue-heavy chamber piece -- basically a theatrical play on celluloid -- is the fruit of Hawke's decades-long collaboration with director Richard Linklater, which began more than 30 years ago with 1995's "Before Sunrise."

"The magic to the relationship is that it's a little bit like riding a bike; you just don't think about it," Hawke told AFP.

"He sent me this script and the two of us just both felt this is one of the most ice-hot pieces of writing we'd ever come across," Hawke told AFP.

"And we wanted to share it with the world."

"Blue Moon" takes place almost entirely in the bar of a Broadway restaurant where Hart takes refuge during the premiere of "Oklahoma!" -- the first major show his long-time collaborator Richard Rodgers created with Oscar Hammerstein.

Robert Kaplow's dense and literary script is utterly dominated by Hawke, who told one journalist he had more dialogue in the first 30 minutes of screentime than in the entirety of his last four films.

But, despite a bit of camera trickery and some digital effects, it is the physicality of a diminutive, balding and unattractive man that was a more time-consuming challenge for Hawke -- the work of a decade for a script he first read in 2014.

"I didn't think I needed to age into it, but Rick (Linklater) did," Hawke told trade title The Wrap.

"Rick knew that time was only going to help me. And funnily enough, it's not just aging, not just your face cracking and falling apart. I thought I was ready when I was 40, but I wasn't.

"I got more and more interested in what people call character acting. And this part required all of it, everything I've learned over 30 some-odd years."
'Mysterious'
Hawke credits his lengthy partnership with Linklater -- the pair announced last year they are working on a 10th feature together -- for allowing him the space to strip back every vestige of vanity and build himself into this oddball lyricist.

Over the course of 100 minutes, Hart reminisces about his souring collaboration with Rodgers (a flinty Andrew Scott), a pairing that gave the world songs like "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady is a Tramp" and the titular "Blue Moon."

A not-so-closeted homosexual, he also waxes lyrical about his infatuation with a young Yale student, played by a bottle-blonde Margaret Qualley, and shares drinks with "Charlotte's Web" author E.B. White (Patrick Kennedy).

Hart keeps up a steady stream of anecdotes and witty repartee, but increasingly the mask slips; underneath it all is the yawning realization that he is utterly alone.

"Nobody ever loved me that much," he says, echoing Humphrey Bogart's Rick in "Casablanca."

Hawke's Oscar nomination -- his fifth after supporting actor nods for "Training Day" and "Boyhood," and two others for best adapted screenplay for "Before Midnight" and "Before Sunset" -- is the result of an experience on this film he said was "mysterious."

"I don't know how I could be so lucky. I really don't understand how the universe works," he told AFP of his work with Linklater.

"It's been one of the most thrilling collaborations in my life."

The Oscars take place on March 15 in Hollywood.