-Welcome back to "Late Night." We're here with Ethan Hawke.
You have scooched over a little. -I have. I'm sorry I encroached.
It's a little bit like having a chaperone at a date.
You know, like in high school. You know, you had to --
-And we're -- you know, obviously we're working out.
You did get a COVID test, which we appreciate...
-I did, yeah. -...in order for you
to come into the studio, you had to do that,
and we did have our -- you know, we're very lucky to have people
who are keeping an eye on things for us.
And they did come out during the commercial break and said like,
"I think maybe one more." -I appreciate that.
-Yeah, exactly. Safety first.
So, you know, I feel like we all, you know, there's maybe
at least one paragraph in American history books
about John Brown.
Harper's family -- Harper's Ferry, excuse me.
We could tick those boxes.
James McBride made this really interesting choice in his book.
There's a lot of levity. There's a lot of humor
that comes through in the series as well.
Did you though think, "Oh, this is so cool
that I get to not just tell the story of James Brown --"
Sorry, John Brown. -James Brown.
That would be a good movie too.
-Why wasn't James Brown in this? I don't know much about history.
-I don't know!
-But you get to tell the John Brown --
not the history books version but the James McBride version,
which seems like it must have been a lot more fun.
-That's the reason to do it.
Nobody really wants to be taught.
I mean, as much as we all like our local librarian, you know,
that's not what you tune in for movies.
-Right. -You want to be entertained.
And what McBride did is pull off a magic trick,
which is to talk about some of this nation's greatest pains,
some of its greatest hurts,
and to do it with so much wit and love that it disarms you.
You know, you're used to feeling like if you have to
look at this, you know, dark part of U.S. history
that you're going to -- that it's just going to hurt.
And it does hurt, but he does it with so much love
that it hurts in a way that is healing, I found.
I mean, when I was first reading the book, I was sitting there
in my bed and I'm just laughing, you know?
I keep cackling, and my wife's like, "What are you reading?"
And I said, you know, "The Good Lord Bird."
And she's like, "Isn't that about John Brown?"
I'm like, "I know!"
'Cause it's kind of as if -- I don't know --
Chris Rock, Redd Foxx, or Richard Pryor told you
the story of John Brown. -Yeah.
-You know, it's not --
It has an incendiary quality to it.
And I think that, as you know, humor is a great teacher.
Humor doesn't lie.
You know, when your body just laughs,
your brain doesn't laugh.
So you don't have a political attack on it.
You just have an emotional human hit on the story.
So that's absolutely why I wanted to do it.
-And then, obviously, you put together an incredible cast,
which this has up and down the board.
And one cast member, obviously close to you,
we've talked about her before, your daughter Maya,
was in it as well.
I mean, it must be so fun to get to work with her,
not just because she's your daughter
but because of her immense talent.
-Well, it's a little mind-blowing, you know?
People are often all over the Internet and news
and TV shows and stuff, you know, trying to stay young,
trying to talk about how awful it is getting old.
And then you find yourself on a set, telling a story
that you really want to tell, that you have a passion to tell,
and your 22-year-old daughter wants to tell it with you.
And she's got ideas and she has --
she has a grace that she gave the show that I didn't know
that we needed so badly.
The funny thing about it was that I really wanted Maya
to play this part, and I was kind of scared
to bring it up with her and kind of scared to bring it up
with Showtime because I was worried they would think
I was just a crazy, nepotistic dad,
and so I was like, "How am I gonna bring this up?"
And then "Stranger Things" came out.
And then somebody from Showtime called, "Hey, you know,
we're looking at the part of your daughter.
I mean, would your actual daughter be interested?"
"Oh, what a fascinating idea!"
Like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! -[ Laughs ]
-You know?
And so it all just kind of fell into place,
and they were glad to have her, and I was glad to have her,
and she was happy to be there.
-You seem to have a closeness with all your kids.
It must help when you're actually on set
because it doesn't seem like -- I don't know --
that you're an intimidating father figure that --
-I try to be intimidating.
-[ Laughs ] Yeah, it just doesn't take.
I mean, I've seen all your kids with you.
They do not seem even the littlest --
-Not a little intimidated? -[ Laughs ] Yeah.
-I'll tell you this.
With all my kids this is true,
but Maya is the oldest, and so I know it more deeply.
I've been working with Maya since she was a little girl.
She's an incredibly -- She has an album out right now
called "Blush" if anybody wants to get it.
She's a really gifted young woman, and she always has been.
So we used to work on watercolors, and she would say,
"Oh, I don't really like that.
Do you think that's too much red?
Do you think that looks more like a dog or a bird?
Hmm, let's switch it out."
But she's always been gifted,
and we've always had an easy dialogue about art.
I think one of the things that was most difficult about her
being on set was asking myself,
"Am I the actor I told her I was?"
You know? -Oh, right.
-Do you know what I mean? Here I've been --
For years, I've been telling her to respect acting.
I'm giving her Uta Hagen's book.
I'm talking to her about what is an actor.
What does it mean? Because the world tells you
one thing that it is, but for the people who really do it,
who are committed to storytelling and committed to
being inside the metaphor of a play,
it's a little bit more mysterious.
And I had to be the person -- You know?
Every time I go to the craft service table, I'd be like,
"A real actor doesn't need this many gummi bears!"
-[ Laughs ]
-Anyway, it was great.
-It turned out great.
Thank you so much for making the trip.
I look forward to seeing you outside of here soon.
Always a pleasure, Ethan.
-Yeah, thanks. I'm sorry I had to sit so far.
Maybe on our second date I get to go to here
and if things go really well, a third, here.
-Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to it.
We're getting the thumbs-up from the staff over there.
The finale of "The Good Lord Bird"
airs this Sunday at 10:00 p.m. on Showtime.