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TORONTO -- It was a brave new world that Ethan Hawke entered when he agreed to star in the $20-million science-fiction thriller, Gattaca (opening tomorrow).
Hawke plays Vincent Freeman, a young man whose birth was not genetically engineered. That means Vincent is imperfect and imperfection is not tolerated in this futuristic society. Vincent discovers a way to dupe the system but it means creating an elaborate and precarious double life.
"The movie is clearly based around my character. That means if the movie doesn't work, I've failed.
"This is the first time I've really had such a weight placed on my shoulders," admits the 27-year-old star of such movies as Dead Poets Society, Reality Bites, Alive, Before Sunrise and Waterland.
"It's a lot more comfortable working in a supporting role or starring in a film that costs less than $5 million. In movies like Waterland, it wouldn't have mattered if my performance was particularly effective. I was just a pawn in that story.
"With Gattaca, I have to navigate the audience through the story and that's a huge responsibility."
Being the film's pilot imposed some physical demands on Hawke.
"They wanted a certain polished look so I had to have my teeth cleaned and straightened, hit the gym and learn to swim.
"I'm not a gym kind of guy. It definitely required effort and the moment the film wrapped, I let it all go."
Gattaca's writer-director Andrew Niccol admits Hawke "felt more comfortable playing the scruffy janitor at the beginning of the film than he did the astronaut.
"He teased me mercilessly. I was working on the script and pre-production in Los Angeles. I'd phone and ask how his training was going and he'd say he was lying on the couch lifting pizza slices to his mouth.
"We were all pretty apprehensive until he arrived on set the first day. He was in top physical condition. However, he refused to shave off his trademark goatee until the last possible second."
A few weeks into shooting, Niccol learned that Hawke wasn't overly eager to share his new body with the world.
"Ethan didn't want to do the half-dozen nude scenes the script required. I had to call (producer) Danny DeVito to step in to negotiate.
DeVito says the negotiations proved a snap.
"I told Ethan we couldn't afford a body double so if he refused to do the nude scenes himself, I'd have to double for him. The next day he stripped down."
Hawke says he has studiously avoided roles that would have plunged him into the limelight.
"There were rumblings about me auditioning for Robin but it would have to be a much more fun role than that to get me to give up my relative obscurity.
"At first you get a lot of work by doing a movie like Batman & Robin, but it soon takes its toll. Chris O'Donnell can't go anywhere without people chanting Robin.
"Your celebrity soon becomes more important to people than your work."
Three years ago, Hawke experienced the brutal glare of celebrity when he went dancing one night at a trendy New York nightclub with Julia Roberts.
Roberts was still married to Lyle Lovett at the time but there were rumors of an impending separation and a possible divorce.
"Julia and I were at an informal business meeting about possibly starring in a film together. There was such hoopla about the dancing episode that the film fell through."
Hawke weathered a smaller storm during the filming of Gattaca, when he and co-star Uma Thurman began dating. The couple are still together.
Hawke has already completed filming a modern version of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and the heist film, The Newton Boys. He is in negotiations to star in Shine director Scott Hicks's adaptation of the mystery novel, Snow Falling on Cedars.
Last year, Hawke published his first novel, The Hottest State.
"It's been a weird year. I was so afraid to publish. I thought I'd be tarred and feathered and run out of town for the sheer arrogance of thinking I could write, let alone publish a novel."
Hawke was vindicated. His novel received favorable reviews and sold so many copies that it is being published in paperback for Christmas.
"People are saying my novel is autobiographical and there may be a grain of truth in that. It's the story of a young actor who comes out of a bad relationship and has a bit of nervous breakdown.
"That's something that kind of happened to me but it's just as safe to say it's the only world I really know anything about, so it's only natural I should set my story where I feel comfortable."