‘The Black Phone’ Director Scott Derrickson Thinks Ethan Hawke Is in the Midst of His Own ‘McConaissance’

thewrap.com:

McConaissance,” the so-called career transformation in the early 2010s during which Matthew McConaughey went from a rom-com star to a sensational, Oscar-winning actor and beyond. “I think Ethan is reaching one of those career pinnacle moments, like what we saw with Matthew McConaughey during his so-called McConaissance, where it was like ‘What happened to Matthew McConaughey?

When did he become Daniel Day-Lewis,” Derrickson told TheWrap. “I think Ethan’s kind of having one of those moments right now where he’s really playing above the rim.

He’s taking risky roles and doing things that are so daring and unique and different than what he’s done in the past, and I admire him a lot for that.”After reading the script for “The Black Phone,” Derrickson says Hawke was upfront with him that he simply doesn’t play many villains, let alone a masked serial killer whose face we barely see.

But in the last few years alone, Hawke’s toyed with more complex, darker characters, including the baddie in Marvel’s “Moon Knight” series, a Norse king in “The Northman,” playing Nikola Tesla, an Old West abolitionist in “The Good Lord Bird” and most notably, as a stoic and tortured minister in 2017’s “First Reformed.” “When I called him I said, ‘You’re not gonna want to do this; he’s a child killer,'” Derrickson said. “I think he was ready for some risk.” But Derrickson also feels that mask was key to Hawke unlocking a new side to his performance as The Grabber, a man who in the ’70s abducts a string of children and keeps them barricaded in a basement for days or weeks up until he finally takes their lives.