Ethan Hawke hopes new movie opens debate about drone attacks
Actor ETHAN HAWKE is hoping his new movie GOOD KILL will prompt a debate about drone attacks.
The film, in which the Training Day star plays a fighter pilot ordered to bomb suspected terrorist strongholds in Yemen and Afghanistan, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on Monday (08Sep14), and Hawke is keen to spark discussion about U.S. drone policy when the film hits cinemas later this year (14).
He tells The Hollywood Reporter, "What I love about this movie is that it's presenting a truth. We all love the idea that there'd be a way to have war without causalities. It seems like the least worst option.
"Before we press 'go' on that completely, we should probably learn more about it. Because I, for one, as a citizen, didn't know anything about it. And so I hope it provokes a dialogue, and I hope that dialogue is constructive."
His co-star Zoe Kravitz admits she took the role on in a bid to learn more about drone attacks.
She explains, "I think most Americans aren't as educated about it as they should be. It's (film screenplay) written in a way where you see all sides of it. I left feeling compassion and understanding for both sides of the situation, which was not at all what I expected, because I'm a very peaceful person coming from a very kind of left-wing hippie-dippie family."
Hawke and Kravitz met with real-life drone pilots, who consulted on the set.
The actor says, "A lot of the guys are extremely good at video games. They'd do this (pilot drones) for 10 hours and then drive home and play video games for four hours. It seemed impossible from my understanding of it to separate that.
"These soldiers can't tell their own stories. They probably don't have the desire to, but they also can't. We as a public have to decide what position we want to put our soldiers in. The world community has to decide: Does the world want the U.S. roving above us? And what do you do when every country has a drone? And then nobody can go outside. Will (President Barack) Obama be able to even publicly speak if an enemy of the U.S. has a drone and he can't even step outside?"
