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Hawke, 30, plays a rookie cop assigned to a top Los Angeles drug enforcer played by Denzel Washington.
In the course of one day, the younger man learns how easy and dangerous it is to be corrupted.
"It was harder for me to get this job than I ever thought it would be," says Hawke. "People in the industry just didn't see me as a cop.
"Denzel is one of my favourite actors, which is why I persisted even when I met a great deal of opposition. It was disheartening to audition knowing the studio didn't want me."
To Hawke's relief, Washington thought differently.
"Denzel said he wanted me and suddenly that was the end of the debate. The irony is that Denzel is the reason I wanted the job and he got me the job."
Hawke insists he didn't have a burning desire to be in an action movie, but saw it as an essential career move.
"I'm working in an environment where it's tough for good filmmakers to hire you if you don't have a few box-office hits under your belt.
"This is something I've lived in denial of for a very long time."
What made Hawke wake up was the casting for Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York.
"Scorsese is the kind of director I want desperately to work with, but I'm certain he couldn't have hired me for Gangs even if he'd wanted to.
"He's got Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz in his movie. I'm pretty certain the studio had something to do with that casting."
Though Hawke knows he needs some celebrity to sustain his career, he doesn't ever want the kind of notoriety Titanic brought Di Caprio.
"Titanic didn't do Leo any favours. He was poised to take over from River Phoenix as the premier actor of his generation, but then Titanic destroyed all that.
"He could be in the most serious drama and young girls will still squeal and shout. It's made it much harder for him to realize the promise his early career had."
Much of Training Day was filmed in Los Angeles' racially charged Pinewood district.
"Denzel is a huge star on those streets.
"He'd tease me because he'd be swarmed for autographs almost every day. It was like bees to honey. Days would go by before anyone would even recognize me.
"I don't think it was just because we were in an African-American community. Denzel steals focus no matter where he is. He's a huge star."
VIOLENCE ONSCREEN
In Training Day, Hawke's character is involved in several violent episodes.
He says those scenes "were horrible and frightening. There is no way for me to describe the impact they had on me while we were filming.
"It's not something I'm used to on or off camera. My stepbrother is in the military and could well become a cop. I'd try to think how he might react in some of these situations and work my reactions from there."
Hawke and his wife, Uma Thurman, are expecting their second child in January. They have a daughter, Maya.
"I'm just now remembering what sleep is like and I'll soon be back on a baby's schedule. I am really enjoying this small window of clarity I'll have for a few more months."
Training Day may be Hawke's most high-profile project, but it's far from his only one. He recently finished directing his first movie, Chelsea Walls, which stars Thurman, Kris Kristofferson, Natasha Richardson, Steve Zahn and Vincent D'Onofrio.
He has Tape and Waking Life, two small Richard Linklater films, scheduled for release before the end of the year and is currently on stage in New York in Sam Shepard's new play The Late Henry Moss with his own theatre company, Malaparte.
Hawke is putting the finishing touches on his second, still-to-be-titled novel. His first, The Hottest State, was published in 1996.
"(Acting) is all I really know how to do, but I'm trying to expand within the perimeters of my art, thus the directing and writing.
"In that sense, you can definitely say I'm still in training."