Ethan Hawke Talks Robin Williams’ Silent Battle During ‘Dead Poet Society’

Ethan Hawke recalled his time on set and shared his observations of co-star Robin Williams’ private struggles.

The Black Phone The actor starred as introverted prep student Todd Anderson in the film.

During his appearance at CBS Sunday Morningtold host Tracy Smith that Williams’ death in 2014 doesn’t change how he views the film now because at the time, he said, “I knew the complexity of his emotional life.”

“I had a lot of depression in my family, and it was obvious to me that all that power and that charisma came at a cost,” Hawke said, describing Williams as “a deeply, deeply sensitive person who was very attuned to the energy of a room.”

He recalled a moment from the set where Williams was “making up lines and everybody was laughing, everybody was praising him.”

However, later things were different, when Hawke went outside to get a glass of water and something to eat, he saw him “hiding in a little corner. He was hiding in the dark by himself. And I [thought]”Okay, it makes a lot more sense to me now.” It was a lot. He was taxing.”

Hawke went on to say that when he watches the film now, “I think about the spirit of the man I knew in those days, how strong he was and how much he weathered that storm of his soul for us and for other people. And I admire him beyond belief.”

At Dead Poets SocietyWilliams starred as John Keating, a passionate New England boarding school English teacher who inspires his young students played by Hawke, Josh Charles and Robert Sean Leonard, among others, to pursue their dreams despite societal pressures.

Williams won the Academy Award for Best Actor along with other honors such as Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director.