Ethan Hawke Says He Hated Gen X Label After Actuality Bites (Unique)

Ethan Hawke didn’t all the time love being related to certainly one of his most iconic roles.

In an interview with PEOPLE about his new film Wildcat, the actor, 53, remembers his 1994 basic Actuality Bites, a comedy-drama about latest school graduates that cemented Hawke’s standing as a Technology X star.

“There was a time when it irritated me as a result of I used to be nervous it was going to by some means be prohibitive of rising up, however now I type of like it,” he now says. “I like Gen X.”

Actuality Bites costarred Winona Ryder, Ben Stiller and Steve Zahn, and made for Stiller’s characteristic directorial debut. Hawke portrayed musician Troy Dyer within the movie, which follows 4 pals as they navigate relationships and jobs a while after graduating school.

“The factor about Actuality Bites that I am amazed by is I suppose Ben become top-of-the-line administrators of my era,” Hawke says. “I feel he is good, and that was his first movie, and that film exists as type of an amazing — I am pleased with it because it’s consultant of its second.”

Regardless of Actuality Bites‘ standing as a cult basic, Hawke says most followers do not acknowledge him from the movie.

“The bizarre factor about my profession is there’s sure folks that simply suppose I am the man from Moon Knight,” he says, referencing his 2022 Disney+ superhero sequence for Marvel Studios. “There’s sure folks that do not know I used to be in another film apart from Coaching Day.”

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“There is a sure connectivity between the Actuality Bites followers and the Earlier than trilogy followers, after which I’ve horror film followers that [know] Sinister or Black Cellphone, they do not know I used to be in one other film,” Hawke provides. “And I will get the odd individual that does not suppose I’ve accomplished something with my life since Lifeless Poets Society.”

Whereas chatting with his early experiences making films like Actuality Bites and Lifeless Poets Society, Hawke says he remembers “the whole lot.”

“They had been so pivotal if you’re younger like that and getting a chance to do what you dreamed of doing and every single day. It is how I think about what an athlete would possibly really feel about their first skilled season,” he says. “Generally you possibly can’t imagine how a lot of each sport they bear in mind.”

For extra on Ethan Hawke, decide up the most recent situation of PEOPLE, on stands now.