Hollywood star Ethan Hawke evolved during career

Ethan Hawke has adapted in order to survive in Hollywood for so many decades.

The 55-year-old actor has enjoyed huge success in the movie business, starring in films such as Reality Bites, Gattaca, and Great Expectations - but Ethan admits that he's had to adapt in order to sustain his career.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: "This job that I’m in is a constant re-contextualisation, not for yourself, but for the people watching.

"I came out of the gate getting leading parts and that can breed a laziness about the actual methodology of acting.

"I was teaching myself to reboot the computer, from a leading man to a character actor, and thinking, ‘What if I could combine these things?’ If you don’t do that as you get older, you get a lot less opportunities. Very few people get to be Paul Newman."

Ethan also explained that he's "willing to play within the sandbox of commerciality".

The veteran film star said: "Peter Weir used to talk about how much he loved [Andrei] Tarkovsky, but he was like, ‘That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make popular art.’ And as a popular artist, I’m willing to play within the sandbox of commerciality."

Ethan previously claimed that "greed" runs the movie business.

The acclaimed actor acknowledges that the movie industry is "designed to make money" - but Ethan admires actors and actresses who are willing to take financial risks.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Ethan explained: "Greed runs our universe.

"If you say you just want to make money, everybody understands what you are going for, and they are fine with it. ‘Great, yeah, good. Oh, yeah, he sold ten billion Big Macs. Good for him.’ No, you just poisoned the whole world."

Ethan loves that some people within the film industry are still willing to prioritise art over profit.

The Dead Poets Society star - whose career on both stage and screen has spanned four decades - star said: "I love it when people keep the great dream alive of making something magnificent, and it’s very hard because the whole industry that runs movie making is designed to make money - and most of all our favourite movies, that’s not what was motivating the project.

"I would never want to not be a person that wouldn’t sell their house to make a movie. I love that. I think it’s cool. I admire the hell out of it."