‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Star Wars’ leave Ethan Hawke ‘disappointed’

Ethan Hawke recently shared his admiration for the critically acclaimed Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises but expressed disappointment with their lasting effect on audiences.

According to Entertainment Weekly, speaking at a master class during the Venice Film Festival on Monday, September 2, the 53-year-old director and actor compared these blockbuster films to the works of his frequent collaborator, Richard Linklater.

"If you go see Harry Potter or Star Wars or something, which I’ve seen a million times, and I love them, but when they are over, I feel slightly disappointed that I’m not a wizard or not a Jedi," Hawke explained playfully.

"And I walk through my life thinking, 'I wish I were a Jedi.' And when you see a Richard Linklater film, you walk out feeling, 'Well, I’ve done that. I’ve met a person, I’ve connected with another human being, and that was important, and that was magic,'" he differentiated the impact of the movies by different makers.

"It’s kind of like that old Zen quote: 'You don’t have to walk on water, you get to walk on Earth'. Isn’t that amazing?" the writer continued. "I feel that’s what Richard Linklater’s movies do, is remind you that it’s a miracle that we walk on Earth and that we breathe at all."

Hawke shared with the audience that he and Linklater have collaborated on "9 or 10 films, depending on how you count," including the Before trilogy and Boyhood. Their latest joint project is the upcoming film Blue Moon.