Why Truman Show Director Quit Making Movies, According to Ethan Hawke

Moon Knight actor Ethan Hawke explains why he thinks The Truman Show director Peter Weir hasn't made a new film since 2010's The Way Back.

Why Truman Show Director Quit Making Movies, According to Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke comments on why he thinks The Truman Show director Peter Weir quit making movies. Weir is the Australian-born director of movies like Gallipoli, Witness, The Truman Show, Master and Commander, and other artistic Hollywood classics. His last film was 2010’s Oscar-nominated The Way Back with Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, and Saoirse Ronan. Hawke starred in one of Weir’s more famous films, Dead Poet’s Society with Robin Williams, which won Best Screenplay for Tom Schulman.

Hawke recently appeared in Marvel’s Moon Knight series on Disney+, playing the lead villain, Arthur Harrow, as well as Scott Derrickson’s latest horror effort, The Black Phone, again as the lead villain character. The actor has appeared in countless films throughout his diverse career, including Reality Bites, Training Day, Boyhood, Gattaca, and many more, working with some of the biggest creative names in Hollywood. Hawke has also worked as a writer and a director, set to release a new 6-part documentary series on HBO about the late Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward titled The Last Movie Stars.

Talking to Indiewire, Hawke was asked about why he thinks Weir hasn’t made a new movie since 2010’s The Way Back, and the actor gives a very honest response, saying that he thinks the director “lost interest in movies” after dealing with difficult performers, such as Russell Crowe (on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) and Johnny Depp (on the canceled adaptation of Shantaram). Hawke suggests that Weir works best with “director-friendly” actors, such as Harrison Ford (whom he worked with on The Mosquito Coast and Witness) and Gerard Depardieu (whom he worked with on Green Card). The actor says that Weir is a rarity in that he’s a popular artist that “makes mainstream movies that are artistic,” which creates a conundrum in that big-name talent is needed to get those projects greenlit. Read Hawke’s full comment below:

I think he lost interest in movies. He really enjoyed that work when he didn’t have actors giving him a hard time. Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp broke him. He’s someone so rare these days, a popular artist. He makes mainstream movies that are artistic. To have the budget to do The Truman Show or Master and Commander, you need a Jim Carrey or Russell Crowe. I think Harrison Ford and Gerard Depardieu were his sort of actors. They were director-friendly and didn’t see themselves as important.

Weir has been nominated for a Best Director Oscar four times (Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, Master And Commander: The Far Side of the World), but never secured a win. He is set to receive an honorary Oscar from the 13th Governors Awards, which recognizes individuals who have made “indelible contributions to cinema,” which Weir certainly has. The director has created a prominent filmography throughout his career, which began in 1968 and seemingly closed out in 2010.

It’s a shame that Weir hasn’t been behind the camera since The Way Back, which itself was an exceptional film. Weir has always managed to make art films that are disguised as commercial ones, which has been a hallmark of his creativity. Having worked with a bevy of exceptional talent, the director has helped forge or alter careers, like Ethan Hawke in Dead Poets Society, Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, Mel Gibson in Gallipoli, and Jeff Bridges in Fearless. It’s interesting to wonder what Weir would do with the next generation of talent, with actors like Timothée Chalamet, Ryan Gosling, or Zendaya, but it appears that day may never come, leaving fans to enjoy what the director has already given to the craft, which is an already amazing filmography.