10 Actors Who Improved At Something They Were Terrible At

7. Ethan Hawke - Playing Villains

Vince Vaughn Brawl in Cell Block 99
Universal

Ethan Hawke is undoubtedly a phenomenal actor who classes-up basically anything he appears in, yet you might not have noticed that he almost never plays a villain.

When we say that Hawke is terrible at playing villains, we mean it in the sense that he has intentionally taken a career path which avoided guy parts in favour of heroes and more ambiguous characters.

As for why? In a recent interview with EW, Hawke said:

"I've always had this theory that when you teach an audience how to see the demon inside you, they don't un-see it for the rest of your career. Jack Nicholson can be playing an accountant and you're still waiting for him to explode like he did in The Shining."

Yet this past year, Hawke decided to finally branch out and experiment with playing card-carrying villains in both Marvel's Moon Knight series and the recent hit horror movie The Black Phone.

In both cases, Hawke's performances were widely praised as high points, with many noting a desire to see him play more villains in the future. As for why Hawke put his hang-ups aside and finally agreed to dabble in villainy? He said:

"I realised I'm on the other side of 50 and it's time to put a new tool in the tool kit. Villains might be my future."

We should be so lucky, Ethan.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.