Ethan Hawke thought Robin Williams hated him on 'Dead Poets Society'

Hawke said Robins had the habit of making a ton of jokes on set, and was helpful in landing him his first agent in Hollywood, reported Variety. 

“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,” the actor recalled. 

Hawke said he realised later that young people's earnestness and intensity can be intimidating. 

“He (agent) 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. 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,” the ''Boyhood'' star recalled. 

Hawke also talked about his upcoming projects, including a possible new collaboration with “Boyhood” and “Before Sunrise” director Richard Linklater centred on transcendentalists in the 19th century. 

“They were the first leaders of the abolition movement; they were vegetarians; they fought for women’s rights. (Richard Linklater) is obsessed with how their ideas are still very radical. This could be a super cool movie and Rick is writing it right now. He is mad at me (for coming to the festival], he thinks I should be at his house,” he said. 

“I could make a case that ‘Boyhood’ is a prequel to ‘Before Sunrise’ — Ellar Coltrane is playing Richard Linklater’s surrogate and then I start playing Richard Linklater’s surrogate. It’s like the Marvel universe!”