How A Teenage Ethan Hawke Rewrote His Dead Poets Society Character's Major Scene

It may be hard to explain Peter Weir's beloved classic "Dead Poets Society" to today's youth because no sane teenager, who has the smallest penchant to ever be cool, would admit to reading poetry (and most probably don't). Still, it's an ageless movie that's somehow very specific to a certain time, and the time of those teens, which isn't as easy to grasp and connect with for kids three decades later. Too much has changed in the world. At the same time, everyone who has ever been a teenager understands that in our formative years, we immediately know when someone says (or does) something fake and unrealistic about us.

In 1989, an 18-year-old Ethan Hawke understood that, too. His criticism of one of his key scenes was overheard by the director, who let him rewrite the sequence, drawing from a painful yet true personal experience. As Hawke recalled in a recent Rolling Stone retrospective,

"I had to do this speech that had to do with the character's father. And after we'd run it, I said to [my co-star] Robert Sean Leonard, 'This scene sucks so bad.' Peter Weir overheard this and asked me, 'Why did you say that?' I told him that I would never say all those things to another man. He replied, 'What would you say?' We talked, and I told him about how my parents got me the same gift for my birthday, and the fact that they didn't know they'd done that... I'd never felt so invisible in my life. Peter went, 'So if that happened to you now, what would you do?' I told him I'd throw the thing off the f****** roof. 'OK, well, why don't we just do that?' So we sat there, rewrote the whole scene, and it's in the film!"

If you watch reaction videos of young people viewing Weir's movie now for the first time, you'll see that almost all of them cry at that beautiful ending. That's because, at its core, the story nails that universal truth of standing up for our friends and the people we love, and who changed our lives in an unexpected way.

I don't know if today's students have such a strict and oppressive school environment with villainous teachers ruling with an iron fist (I doubt it) as portrayed in the film, but they certainly get what that meant back then, since "Dead Poets Society" impeccably captures that milieu. The boys depicted in it are sensitive yet curious souls who are just sensing the possibility of their true potential, due to a wondrous teacher (Robin Williams, of course) who opens their minds up to a world they never imagined before — at least not in a liberating and fun way.

There may be plot points and little details in the film that feel outdated today from a younger perspective, making the narrative somewhat obsolete, yet the characters remain as relatable and compelling as ever. See, times, culture, and society might've changed significantly in the past 36 years, but we as humans, at our core, haven't. We're still as eager to bond, make friends, and seek mentors in our lives who inspire and encourage us to live for the moment, to find and embrace our passion, and to be as true to ourselves as we can possibly be.