‘Blue Moon’ Star Ethan Hawke Trashed His ‘Hamlet’ Director on Set, Then Realized the Mic Was Still On

Every actor has a bad day on set, but few have one as memorable as Ethan Hawke’s on ‘Hamlet’. The five-time Oscar nominee recently looked back on the 2000 Shakespeare adaptation and its most awkward behind-the-scenes moment.

The story came out during a reunion with his ‘Hamlet’ co-star Kyle MacLachlan. On September 28, the pair took the stage at New York’s Symphony Space, where Hawke moderated a conversation about MacLachlan’s new memoir, ‘Fictional Selves’.

During the talk, Hawke admitted that he once vented about director Michael Almereyda in the middle of filming, without realizing his microphone was live, and the director could hear everything.

The moment came while the 2 actors were shooting a car scene that involved a long wait. Hawke, now 55, said he couldn’t remember what had upset him, only that he was furious with Almereyda that day.

“I was very mad at Michael that day, and I was just spitting venom about this guy,” Hawke recalled at Symphony Space. He said he then noticed MacLachlan quietly signaling toward something outside the car.

When he looked out the window, he saw Almereyda wearing headphones. MacLachlan explained to the audience that both actors had been mic’d up the whole time, so the director heard every complaint.

Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. According to the pair, Almereyda took the outburst in stride, and the 3 of them are still close. Hawke stressed that he went on to work with the director many times and considers him a friend. Hawke, MacLachlan and Almereyda reunited for the 2020 biographical drama ‘Tesla’, with Hawke as Nikola Tesla and MacLachlan as Thomas Edison.

Almereyda wrote and directed ‘Hamlet’, which moves Shakespeare’s tragedy to modern-day New York City. Hawke played the title role as a young filmmaker dealing with grief and revenge after the death of his father, played by Sam Shepard.

MacLachlan played Uncle Claudius, with Julia Stiles as Ophelia, Liev Schreiber as Laertes, and Bill Murray as Polonius. Despite the low budget, Hawke remembers the production fondly.

He said the cast was sincere and loved the material. He also recalled Murray reading books in the background about how to perform Shakespeare, a sign of how seriously everyone took the work.

The evening was a celebration of MacLachlan’s memoir, published in late September. Best known for ‘Twin Peaks’, ‘Blue Velvet’, ‘Dune’, ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘Fallout’, the actor tells the story of his offbeat career and his complicated relationship with fame.

The book introduces his alter ego, “Other Kyle,” a prodding ego that has shadowed him throughout his career. It also looks at the roles he played and the ones that got away. Hawke has endorsed the book, praising it on the cover as charming, self-effacing, and authentic. MacLachlan, now 67, is also known online for his wine label, Pursued by Bear, and his true-crime podcast, ‘Varnamtown’.

The Symphony Space event was one of several stops on MacLachlan’s book tour. He also held conversations in Chicago on September 30 and in Edmonds, Washington, on October 1.

He is heading to London’s Central Hall Westminster on October 21. With stories like Hawke’s hot mic confession already making the rounds, fans can expect more behind-the-scenes surprises along the way.

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