Brigitte Lacombe photographs the actors preshow rituals.
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All they have to do is watch the house and spritz some water on her plants.
In the revival, running now on Broadway,Ethan Hawkeplays the grizzled older brother Lee.
Paul Dano plays his bespectacled little brother Austin.
He shotguns beers, kicks over chairs, uses a golf club to thrash a typewriter.
I didnt even get that when I was a kid.
I just thought it was funny and wild, Hawke says.
Before a recent show, photographer Brigitte Lacombe also a friend of Shepards followed HawkesTrue Westrituals.
She took the really iconic picture of Sam thats on the cover of all his plays, Hawke says.
Hawke talked Vulture through the shots.
Often their arguments turn into shouting matches that are heavy on the body and voice.
One way he prepares is a pretty loose preshow ritual.
Another of Hawkes preshow rituals includes a tribute to the playwright.
Shepard first book was titledHawk MoonandHawke has a fake-ink crescent applied before every performance.
The first sliver of moon in November is sometimes called the hawk moon.
Mine is November 6, Hawke says.
Hawke also pays close attention to his costuming details.
He wears a wifebeater under his bedraggled shirt, and has grown a gnarly mustache.
I wanted it to be a farmers tan, he says.
And so this guy, Tommy, paints me, gives me a cowboy tan every night.
Hawke originally auditioned for that 2000 production when he was in his 20s.
I was always told that Sam Rockwell and I were the next choice.
We auditioned together for that production, he says.
What does he remember about reading for it?
That they were fools not to cast Rockwell and I, he laughs.
I remember that it hurt not getting it.
Thats what I remember.
Hawke and Dano practice it in a fight call before every show.
All those props make the scene harder to get right.
