Ethan Hawke Talks About How Dangerous Filming The Drowning Scene Was For His New Movie
Minor spoilers ahead for The Weight.
Some of Ethan Hawke’s best movies have memorable action sequences, and he’s at it once again with Padraic McKinley’s The Weight. In the new historical drama his character Samuel Murphy goes through a number of life and death situations while carrying bars of gold across the wilderness. He recently spoke to CinemaBlend about one particular scene where he was being drowned under giant logs.
It remains to be seen if The Weight joins the ranks of the best western movies, but it’s a thrilling and emotional drama with plenty to offer moviegoers. As you can see in the video above, I asked Hawke and his co-star Julia Jones about what it was like shooting such a dangerous stunt, which requires a great deal of crush. Throughout the sequence her character Anna gives him mouth to mouth to keep him alive underwater, and the Dexter: New Blood actress took me behind the scenes, saying:
We rehearsed that scene like the first day I met Ethan, maybe the second scene… I mean, once you kind of do that with a complete stranger you definitely don’t feel so self-conscious of really anything going forward.
Well, thats certainly one way to break the ice. Hawke and Jones had to get pretty intimate for the scene where they lock lips in order to keep Samuel alive. Add in the stress and safety measures to keep everyone safe, and it sounds like a real exercise in trust. Per the Twilight star, it brought her and Hawke together for the rest of The Weight‘s shoot.
Ethan Hawke also weighed in on shooting the near-drowning scene for his latest movie. In it his character is attacked in a rushing river, as huge, dangerous logs are floating down. He eventually gets caught underneath them and nearly drowns, before Jones’ Anna helps keep him alive. The Training Day icon shared his perspective, telling me:
But it was also, to be honest with you, it’s extremely dangerous. And independent film is, you know, accidents can happen. And they do happen. And even with well-meaning prepared people, you know, there’s a bunch of really heavy logs and it’s real water and it’s cold and it’s not easy to, to get a handful of terrific shots. It’s not easy. And it either pulls you together or pushes you apart. And sometimes it’s happening simultaneously
While being a movie star sounds glamorous for us civilians, the reality of the job can sometimes be the opposite. Sets can be quite dangerous, and we’ve seen tragedies happen related to action sequences. For instance, a stunt performer died on the set of Deadpool 2. Add in that The Weight is an indie film, and the stakes were especially high for Ethan Hawke and company.
As an audience member I originally had no idea that The Weight was made on such a small budget, given how many epic action sequences there were during its 113-minute runtime. Later in our conversation, Ethan Hawke shared his reaction to seeing the final product, telling me:
At the Sundance screening, when we watched the movie completed with a sound mix finished in front of an audience, we both had a shared though of, ‘Well, it was worth it. It is worth it.’ I’m proud of the movie and I can’t wait for people to see it.
Despite the long hours and dangerous stunt work, at least the Black Phone star seems proud of what the cast and crew were able to accomplish in the end. And both she and Julia Jones kill their roles, in that water scene and beyond.
Fans can judge for themselves when The Weight hits theaters on September 18th as part of the 2026 movie release list. Ethan Hawke is proud of what they accomplished, we’ll just have to see if audiences agree once it gets its wide theatrical release.
