Picture of the film THE LAST MOVIE STARS by Ethan HAWKE © DR
Ethan Hawke recounts the story of the Woodward/Newman couple in The Last Movie Stars
Their relationship, their love, their triumphs and their failures: in the documentary series The Last Movie Stars – of which chapters 3 & 4 are being presented during Cannes Classics in the presence of Ethan Hawke and Clea Newman Soderlund – Ethan Hawke offers us a portrait of the mythical couple that Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman formed both in life and on screen. He looks back at the conception of the project.
The genesis of the project
When Clea Newman, the couple's youngest daughter, first approached me to make a documentary about her parents, I naively thought I could complete the project with some ease. I’ve always admired their career. As a child in the 1970s, I grew up with Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, two stars at the height of American artistic life. They were examples of meaningful lives, passionate and disciplined artists. A devoted husband and wife to their family, but also activists of heart and courage.
The ambition
When I started to dig deeper into their story, it quickly became clear to me that I had a big, broad love story on my hands. It couldn't be mentioned quickly without falling into some form of cliché. A fifty-year marriage, two fifty-year careers, the golden age of cinema, family, love, roles, philanthropy… as I looked closer, their whole personal story became more and more intriguing. We had to crank up the ambition of the project.
The protagonists
Joanne was a fixture in the New York theatre community. She was everything a serious actress aspires to be. Sure, her husband was a movie star, but she was a more accomplished artist. She evolved as an artist throughout her career. But that's only one aspect of her life. There was also Joanne the activist, the teacher, the mother-in-law, the philanthropist and the friend, as well as being a powerful and nurturing matriarch. As her daughter, Lissy Newman, says, her "story needs to be told because the sanitised version of the perfect marriage has trivialised the reality and reduced my mother to a loving and adoring wife."
Paul Newman was one of the greatest film actors of his generation. Nominated for a Best Actor Oscar in five different decades, he did what his peers – Marlon Brando, James Dean or Montgomery Clift – never accomplished. He has evolved throughout his career. Unlike many successful artists, he also had a fifty-year marriage that changed him more than his work.
The different chapters
"We began with the 1950s, when Paul and Joanne fell in love with each other and with acting. In chapter two, they both find fame and are propelled to the top of their profession. In chapter three, Paul achieves Beatles-like fame, while Joanne is forced to try to keep her family together. Chapter four explores the crushing burdens and responsibility created by this international fame. Chapter five shows how their marriage found its balance just before it was shattered by the loss of a child. The final chapter looks back at the age of maturity.
