Ethan Hawke reveals style advice he once received from Robert Redford

Robert Redford influenced Ethan Hawke’s career in more ways than one.

In an interview with AARP published on Thursday, October 16, Hawk, 54, named Redford as one of the few people who have given him “good advice” throughout his career, along with Peter Weir, Robin Williams, Olympia Dukakis and Denzel Washington.

Redford, who is remembered as an actor, director, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival, died on Tuesday, September 16, at his home in Utah at the age of 89.

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Hawk told AARP that the last time they met, Redford “told her to stop wearing her cowboy hat because people thought she was losing her hair.”

Hawke said she thought the advice was “really funny,” but also thanked Redford for always trying to take care of her.

“He was very kind and helpful to me when I was younger,” Hawk said. “He was the first real champion of ‘Before Sunrise.’ A lot of people weren’t interested in that movie when it first came out, and he made us the opening night of Sundance (1995) and introduced this movie and made it seem like it was a really proper movie.”

But Hawke, who was never afraid to experiment with her looks, told AARP that she ultimately “didn’t listen” to Redford’s style advice.

“Like I said, unsolicited advice never goes unheeded,” he told AARP.

Fans may recall that Hawke recently underwent a physical transformation to play Broadway legend Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s new film Blue Moon. To suit the role, the actor shaved his head, replaced his hair with a combar, and adjusted his posture to appear nearly a foot shorter. He also wore brown contact lenses for the role.

Speaking to PEOPLE/EW and Shutterstock Studios on Monday, September 8, during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, the actor said shaving his head was the easy part because it “didn’t take a lot of time.”

From there, it was all about “establishing the look, figuring out how the clothes fit, how to walk, and basically working on the performing arts of how to get a foot shorter,” Hawk said. “So it was non-stop.”

However, the actor hopes this is the last time he has to modify his body for an on-screen role, confessing, “Hopefully never again!”

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“Blue Moon” will be released in select theaters on October 17th, followed by all theaters on October 24th.