Ethan Hawke came close to winning an Academy Award for his performance in Training Day, which was his first of four Oscar nominations. Though Hawke has yet to pick up a golden statuette, he's always felt like the nomination was enough of a win, having never forgotten the advice given to him by co-star Denzel Washington.

In 2002, Hawke was up for Best Supporting Actor for Training Day, ultimately losing to Iris star Jim Broadbent. Washington, meanwhile, won Best Actor for his role in the film. During a new interview for the Max series Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? (per THR), Hawke detailed how Washington had told him during the ceremony that night not to sweat the Oscar loss, as it wasn't truly necessary to improve his status as a performer.

“You don’t want an award to improve your status. You want to improve the award’s status,” Hawke said of what Washington told him. "That’s the way he thinks, and that’s what I’m talking about playing with [baseball great] Babe Ruth... I think when all is said and done, he’s the greatest actor of our generation. The Academy Award has more power because Denzel has a couple. It didn’t elevate who he was.”

When asked if he would have rather won the Oscar upon getting nominated for Training Day, Hawke continued, “No… I mean, yeah, I guess. I was at the Oscars sitting next to Denzel Washington and nominated against Ian McKellen. I had already won. It was impossible for me not to see it any other way.”

Hawke would follow up Training Day with another three Academy Award nominations. For his acting, he was again up for Best Supporting Actor for Richard Linklater's 2014 film Boyhood. Hawke had also collaborated on the script for Linklater's Before Sunset and Before Midnight, both of which were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. The actor continues to draw acclaim for his performances, such as more recent turns seen in the film The Black Phone and the series Moon Knight.

Training Day Drew High Acclaim Upon Release

Training Day was directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Ayer. The film starred Denzel Washington as a veteran LAPD narcotics officer tasked with training a rookie officer up for a promotion, played by Ethan Hawke. The partnership comes under fire when the two realize they have very different ways of approaching police work.

Training Day is currently streaming for free on Tubi.

Source: Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?