Ethan Hawke says his two youngest daughters were taken aback by his cameo in Taylor Swift video for “Fortnight.”
The 53-year-old actor revealed May 7 on “The Late Show” that he thought he would impress his Swiftie kids Clementine, 15, and Indiana, 12, when he reunited with his “Dead Poets Society” co-star Josh Charles in the music video for “Fortnight.”
Instead, Hawke’s daughters were shocked — and a little something extra. “The truth is when they did find out, the look on their face was one of profound disappointment,” the actor joked.
Hawke imagined his daughters wanting to tell Swift, “‘Don’t pay attention to my dad. My dad’s an idiot. You should be calling me.’”
Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles in Taylor Swift music video
Hawke seemed to understand his daughters’ horror, telling host Stephen Colbert, “Taylor belongs to them. I can’t have that on them. So I had to low-key it.”
The actor, who shares Clementine and Indiana with wife Ryan Hawke, said he wasn’t able to tell his daughters ahead of time about his appearance because he signed an nondisclosure agreement.
“You tell my teenage daughters that I’m going to meet Taylor and everybody at school’s going to know,” explained Hawke, who also shares two older kids, actors Maya Hawke, 25, and Levon Hawke, 22, with ex-wife Uma Thurman.
Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles in Taylor Swift music video
Hawke said he and Charles were invited to appear in the video, which also features pop star Post Malone, who duets with on the song, as “a little easter egg about ‘Dead Poets Society,'” which shares a title similar to Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
The four-time Oscar nominee described how thrilled he and and Charles were to get the chance to appear alongside Swift.
“You can’t imagine what it’s like to walk through an airport with a friend you’ve known for 35 years and watch all the young people with their ‘Eras’ (Tour) sweatshirts on and their Taylor Swift things, and we got something on them — we’re going to meet the queen ourselves,” he recalled thinking.
“We felt like the biggest rock stars in the world,” he added.
