Ethan Hawke (Brooklyn's Finest) interview

Ethan Hawke stars in gritty urban thriller Brooklyn's Finest, which follows three doomed New York police officers, each trying to overcome their own demons whilst working in the city's most dangerous precinct run by ruthless drug-running gangsters.


What is Brooklyn's Finest about?

The movie is about Brooklyn. Good guys and bad guys, the light and the dark and it’s about a time and a place. It’s not about a narrative or a plot, it feels like you are making a portrait of humanity not of some isolated individual and there is something thrilling about that.

Tell us about your character, Sal...

Life has been profoundly disappointing to Sal. He has worked really hard, he’s crossed all his T’s and dotted all his I’s to be the man that he really dreams of being and his still doesn’t look the way he wants it to look. He feels like a guy who is a good police officer and should have more to show than he does. He should be able to provide for his family and be honoured in his community and his ego is not getting pleased the way he would like it to be for many good valid reasons.

What drew you to the script?

It’s hard to make a good movie. Every year there’s only a couple of people that do it, just a couple. So many talented people, so much money being spent and it’s really hard to make a really good movie and this has a chance and it’s very rare that you even have a shot.

How significant was shooting the film in Brooklyn?

How much can you tell an entertaining story and still have it be true to a realistic experience.

Did you enjoy working with your Training Day director Antoine Fuqua again?

There’s a familiarity you have when you have worked with people you have worked with before and it really lends itself to the arts to do good things. It’s why good music happens that way, a lot of great art happens because people collaborate over time you and you believe in each other and encourage each other and good things can happen that way.


Brooklyn's Finest is released in UK cinemas on 9th June 2010.