Why Ethan Hawke relates to his ‘hot mess’ character in ‘The Lowdown’: video

In Ethan Hawke’s new show “The Lowdown,” he looks increasingly rough the first few episodes, as his face gets cut and bruised. 

“You know, I’m one of those actors who insists that I really get hit,” Hawke, 54, joked to The Post.

“No, I’m not the Tom Cruise [type]. I love it because I think it’s funny,” the Oscar-nominated actor added.

He cited other “film noir” characters, such as Jack Nicholson in “Chinatown,” who has a “bandaged nose” the whole movie. “There’s a long history of, ‘if you go seeking the truth, you’re going to get punched in the face.’”

Referring to his character in “The Lowdown,” Lee Raybon, Hawke said, “that’s just Lee’s job. And so, I found it incredibly funny. I love somebody who’s willing to face danger without playing a tough guy. He’s not a tough guy. He’s just willing to do whatever it takes.”

“The Lowdown” was created by Sterlin Harjo (“Reservation Dogs”), and Hawke exec produces and also stars in it. 

The show premieres Tuesday, Sept 23 on FX (9 p.m.) and airs the next day on Hulu. 

It follows Lee (Hawke), an eccentric Tulsa man who works in a bookstore when he’s not sleuthing to expose local corruption, or being a father to his 14 year old daughter, Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong). 

Lee gets in hot water when he writes an expose on the powerful Washberg family, including Dale (Tim Blake Nelson), Betty Jo (Jeanne Tripplehorn), and politician Donald (Kyle MacLachlan). 

Harjo told The Post that he was friendly with Hawke, and originally sent him the script just asking for his opinion.

“I was too afraid to just say, ‘do you want to play this part?’ Because I feel like I was new to this industry. I don’t know how that work,” he explained to The Post. “But luckily, he wrote me back and just said, ‘why am I not playing this character?’ Well, let’s fix that.” 

Hawke told The Post that his character, Lee, reminded him of his stepfather. 

“I had an amazing stepfather who just didn’t really enjoy the way society works, and was really allergic to the laws of popular culture. And he would be frustrated with how everybody was oriented around making money, as if that was going to get us into heaven, and why we weren’t taking care of our brothers and sisters,” the “First Reformed” actor explained. 

The “Boyhood” star added that his stepfather was “an inspiring person to be around,” but that his ethics “got him into a lot of personal drama.”

“He would say the thing you’re not supposed to say, and it was true…Maybe it wasn’t the right time, but when is the right time?” he asked. “Usually never!” 

Lee also reminded him of people he encountered in the arts. 

“A lot of idealism and that idealism gets knocked down as soon as people start having children. A lot of dreams die. And, there’s some people that somehow just keep crawling back. I love people like that,” said Hawke, who is a father of four: son Levon and “Stranger Things” star Maya, who he had with his ex wife Uma Thurman, and daughters Clementine and Indiana, whom he had with his current wife, Ryan Shawhughes Hawke.

The “Reality Bites” actor added that when many people are in their early 20s, they have “dreams and ideas of what the world is about, what it’s supposed to be,” but as they grow up, “compromises” get involved. 

“I’ve always admired people that don’t give up on that side of themselves, and keep wanting to be the person that they dreamed they could have been when they were 16,” said Hawke. 

“But, that doesn’t integrate very well with the box that society wants us to be in, and meeting all your responsibilities.”

He quipped that Lee is “a hot mess… and that, to me, is real life.”