Heart-throb Hawke jets in on flying visit

LOOKING rather scruffy in a pair of old jeans, suede jacket and sporting a three-day-old beard, Hollywood heartthrob Ethan Hawke appeared anything but swoon material when he jetted into Dublin last weekend for a brief visit to promote his second novel, Ash Wednesday.

It can’t be easy having to look like a screen idol all the time, I guess. Taking up residence at U2’s Clarence hotel (for one night only), the star of Dead Poet’s Society was very much looking forward to a relaxing visit after partying the night away just hours before with Liam Neeson in London.

“This is a country I’ve always wanted to go to, but I’m not here for too long. Apart from the book signing tomorrow, I’m not going to get much time for anything else,” he said.

Having now successfully switched from movie-making to fiction writing, Hawke suggested that the transition was something he had always wanted in his professional career.

“I spent the bulk of my life on film sets and writing was always at the back of my head. I was just 18 when Dead Poet’s Society was made and I had no idea it was going to be so big, that movie really shaped my life,” he confided.

Married to the gorgeous Uma Thurman, Hawke now has two in his family. “Our little boy was born this year and we just couldn't be happier,” he gushed. Thurman, he said, was currently planning a movie of her own. “She’s working on a movie with Quentin Tarantino called Kill Bill and she's quite happy to consider interesting projects as they come along.”

Following a reading from his book the next day at Dublin’s Project theatre, Hawke took a little time out to greet fans and sign books before returning home to New York.