Ethan Hawke Opens up About a Tense Relationship With a Fellow Hollywood Star

Ethan Hawke is looking back at a time when he viewed one of his closest friends as his biggest rival. During an appearance on The Tonight Show on Wednesday, the actor noticed a portrait of Billy Crudup on the wall and admitted that things weren’t always friendly between them.

When they were younger, Hawke explained that he and the Almost Famous star were constantly auditioning for the same roles. He confessed that when you are just starting out, it is easy to feel like you are against everybody because you don’t yet realize there is enough space for everyone to succeed.

Hawke shared that he would run into Crudup at almost every audition, and the experience was often a source of frustration. He recalled several times where he would have to wait in the hallway and listen to Crudup perform the scene before his own turn.

According to Hawke, hearing how talented Crudup was felt so irritating because he was simply that good. The competitive tension reached a boiling point when Hawke had to turn down a specific play for a movie role, only for Crudup to step in and find massive success with the part.

While Hawke joked about wishing he could go back in time and stop his career, he eventually grew to appreciate his peers’ talent. That “career-making” role turned out to be the 1995 Broadway production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, which turned Crudup into an overnight sensation.

Host Jimmy Fallon noted that Crudup was recently honored with his own portrait at the famous New York restaurant Sardi’s, a moment that moved the actor to tears. Hawke agreed that Crudup is the real thing and that the recognition was well-deserved.

As of February, Ethan Hawke is currently enjoying one of the most successful years of his long career. He is fresh off an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his role in Blue Moon, which marks his tenth collaboration with director Richard Linklater.

In the film, Hawke plays the legendary Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart during a single, turbulent night at Sardi’s. The movie, which also stars Margaret Qualley and Andrew Scott, has been a major hit during the awards season and is currently available to stream on Netflix.

Hawke is also gaining significant buzz for his role in the survival drama The Weight, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January. In that project, he stars alongside Russell Crowe as a recently incarcerated man in 1930s Oregon who gets caught up in a dangerous gold-smuggling operation to win back his freedom.

He is also set to begin filming a highly anticipated period piece about the 19th-century transcendentalist movement later this year, where he will portray Ralph Emerson alongside Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac.

Meanwhile, Billy Crudup is keeping just as busy, currently starring in the world premiere play High Noon at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. The production, which is a stage adaptation of the classic 1952 western film, has been a massive hit and is scheduled to run through March 7.

Crudup also remains a favorite on the small screen for his role as Cory Ellison in The Morning Show, which recently aired its fourth season. The friendly rivalry of their youth may be long gone, but both actors are proving there was indeed plenty of room at the top.

Do you think the competitive pressure Ethan Hawke felt early on actually helped push him to become the versatile actor he is today, or do you think he would have reached this level of success regardless of his rivalry with Billy Crudup? Share your thoughts in the comments.