Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/2011 Astrid Stawiarz

Ethan Hawke did a Reddit AMA today, and long story short, it was lovely. He recommended local indie bands. He started brainstorming ideas for a Reddit play! The whole thing is worth your time, but if AMAs hurt your eyes, here are the highlights. They involve advice on how to buy an island.

In response to a question about the “buying process” for an island (Hawke owns one in Nova Scotia):

“That’s a funny question, and deserves to be answered. One does not shop for an island; I have friends in Nova Scotia, and often visited them, one of whom was an older woman who could no longer take care of her island, and she asked if I would buy it. A closet in Manhattan costs more than an island in Nova Scotia. So I answered yes. And I’m happy I did.”



On camping beverages:

“I will always have a soft spot for Tang, no matter how vile it tastes, because when my father and I used to go camping, for breakfast we would have granola bars and Tang. For lunch we would have wolf’s chili and Tang. And for dinner we would have hot dogs and Tang.”



On Nic Cage:

“I’m kind of obsessed with Nic Cage. I just found out about /r/onetruegod too. He’s the only actor since Marlon Brando that’s actually done anything new with the art of acting; he’s successfully taken us away from an obsession with naturalism into a kind of presentation style of acting that I imagine was popular with the old troubadours. If I could erase his bottom half bad movies, and only keep his top half movies, he would blow everyone else out of the water. He’s put a little too much water in his beer, but he is still one of the great actors of our time. And working with him was an absolute pleasure. In fact, one of my favorite scenes I’ve ever done is the last scene in LORD OF WAR.”



On enjoying the AMA process:

“Hey, my pleasure, this has been fun! I’ve never done this before. It’s such a relief not to have to answer questions on camera, and to have time to think about it. I always have a panic attack when I’m on one of those talk shows, and the cameras blaring in your face, and you have the pressure to be witty — it makes me want to crawl under a couch.”



The rest is here. Enjoy it!