Ethan Hawke gets candid about working with Robin Williams in ‘Dead Poets Society’

Hollywood star Ethan Hawke is opening up about working with the late Robin Williams on the classic film, Dead Poets Society.

The Before Sunrise star, after accepting the President’s Award for career achievement at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in Czech Republic, was quoted by Variety admitting that he thought the legendary actor ‘hated’ him.

“I thought Robin hated me. He had a habit of making a ton of jokes on set. At 18, I found that incredibly irritating. He wouldn’t stop and I wouldn’t laugh at anything he did,” Hawke said.

However, he does admit that it was Williams who’s help got him his first agent.

“He called, saying, ‘Robin Williams says you are going to do really well.’ There was this scene in the film when he makes me spontaneously make up a poem in front of the class,” said the actor.

“He made this joke at the end of it, saying that he found me intimidating. I thought it was a joke. As I get older, I realize there is something intimidating about young people’s earnestness, their intensity. It is intimidating — to be the person they think you are. Robin was that for me,” he added.