Summary
- Collider’s Steve Weintraub sits down with Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater for Blue Moon at TIFF 2025.
- In the movie, Hawke portrays songwriter Lorenz Hart as he grapples with the emotional opening night of Oklahoma!, masking his heartbreak in revelry.
- In this interview, Linklater and Hawke discuss their rapid, single-location shoot, tackling heavy dialogue scenes, co-stars Margaret Qualley and Bobby Cannavale, and making boundary-pushing art.
Few filmmakers are capable of capturing a time and place with the precision of Richard Linklater, and with his Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Blue Moon, he turns that gift toward the golden age of American musicals. The film unfolds in real time at Sardi’s on the historic 1943 opening night of Oklahoma!, where lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) watches his longtime partner Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) celebrate a new creative chapter with Oscar Hammerstein. On the outskirts of the party, Hart masks heartbreak with quips and cocktails, confiding in a bartender (Bobby Cannavale), a young military composer, and Yale student Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley).
The result is a tight-knit drama that balances theatricality with cinematic intimacy, channeling the quick wit and aching throughline of a Rodgers & Hart tune. As Hawke told Collider’s Media Studio at the Cinema Center to Steve Weintraub:
“It’s a howl into the night of an artist being left behind.”
That howl is what defines Blue Moon, a film as much about loss and legacy as it is about music. Check out the full conversation in the video above, with a time index below where Linklater and Hawke dive into the film’s decade-long journey to the screen, the demands of mounting it in real time, and their reflections on why art that refuses to play it safe always matters most.
- 01:00 – Blue Moon captures a monumental moment for American theater.
- 02:27 – What was the prep like for this role, and how did it compare to past work?
- 04:54 – Hawke explains tackling dialogue-heavy scenes and working with the all-star cast.
- 05:34 – Linklater on approaching the look, feel, and staging for a mostly single-location film.
- 06:42 – “Who wants inoffensive art?” — Where do you think risk-taking in art stands today?
- 09:20 – What would Larry Hart think about his story being a movie instead of a stage musical?
- 11:11 – How did the movie change in the edit, if at all?
- 12:52 – Linklater discusses his comedy drama Nouvelle Vague.
- 15:41 – Hawke teases his upcoming action adventure, The Weight, with Russell Crowe.
- 16:23 – Get to know Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke!
Blue Moon will have a limited theatrical release on October 17 before a wide release on October 24.
And special thanks to the partners Roxstar Entertainment and its Campari Cinema Center and Campari, who featured their signature festival red-carpet drinks, including the Campari Negroni and Campari Spritz. Also host venue, Discreta Toronto, and Oscar-winning visual effects (VFX) company, Rodeo FX as well as Lavazza Coffee, Vellamo mineral water, Santa Carolina’s Reserva Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, La Vieille Ferme Rosé and La Vieille Ferme Reserve Brut Sparkling, Peroni beer, and food catering by Miss Ivy Toronto @Cinemactr.
Blue Moon
- Release Date
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October 17, 2025
- Runtime
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90 minutes
- Director
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Richard Linklater
- Writers
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Robert Kaplow
- Producers
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John Sloss, Mike Blizzard
