Hey folks, Harry here. About a week or so ago at an even here in Austin featuring John Waters as the headlining speaker of the evening (at the Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival) I bumped into Ethan Hawke and decided to stop beating around the bush and actually ask him if he was going to be playing Faramir. "Yeah, it's looking like it." We talked back and forth a bit about it. He seemed excited about working with Peter Jackson, but was shocked that I knew as much as I did about it. It seems he hasn't been paying as close attention to how casting has been going as we here on the net have, so I was able to tell him who a couple of his co-stars were. Then I told him of my affinity for the script, and he asked how I managed that... Basically, I just deferred to 'That is kinda what I do.'
Now, I'll tell ya this. I've met Ethan before... He was born here in Austin about a year before me, but I hadn't met him until the premiere of BEFORE SUNRISE back in 1995, when I had short hair and no beard. I had been blown away by Linklater's film (still my favorite of his work) and Ethan was so warm and real in the movie. He struck me as a very cool sort of guy. Then I again ran into him at THE NEWTON BOYS premiere. Believe it or not... he really does come across as a fairly normal kind of guy. BUT... this time.. well he looked more haggard. His cheeks more chiseled, his face... a tad weary. And this was the first time I looked at him and thought of him in context of dealing with an insane father. He had quite a bit of facial hair and his hair has grown a little longer. I know some of you out there really really dislike him as Faramir, but at least on this one night I could really see it as a possibility. I think he can do it, and pull it off beautifully. Now... his statement wasn't definitive, but while he's been up there in Toronto, I got this report...
You may have already heard this, but Ethan Hawke disclosed at the Toronto Film Festival that he will make an appearance in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. According to Mr. Thurman — who was sporting grotty fu manchu maxillofacial hair and a grotesque thrift-bought cowboy shirt — he will play Faramir, younger brother of Boromir, who by your reckoning will played by Sean Bean. Hawke went on to state his lifelong fondness for Tolkien’s work, his reverence for the material, etc. He also said that Tom Bombadil (sp?) will NOT appear in the first film, which you probably already know. Hope this is of use to you.
‘‘Doo-Ron Upchuck’’
