Ethan Hawke on making 'Dead Poets Society' with Robin Williams: 'I thought Robin hated me'

Ethan Hawke wasn't in on the joke, so to speak, while filming Dead Poets Society.

The 1989 Oscar-winning drama starred the late Robin Williams as John Keating, an unconventional teacher who encouraged his students through poetry to push the boundaries of self-expression. Hawke played Todd Anderson, a junior in high school enrolled in Keating's class.

"I thought Robin hated me," Hawke admitted during a roundtable at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he earned the President's Award, per Variety. "He had a habit of making a ton of jokes on set. At 18, I found that incredibly irritating. He wouldn’t stop and I wouldn’t laugh at anything he did."

Variety also relayed that Hawke shared he has Williams to thank for landing his first agent: "He called, saying, 'Robin Williams says you are going to do really well.' There was this scene in the film when he makes me spontaneously make up a poem in front of the class. He made this joke at the end of it, saying that he found me intimidating. I thought it was a joke. As I get older, I realize there is something intimidating about young people’s earnestness, their intensity. It is intimidating – to be the person they think you are. Robin was that for me."

The scene in question can be seen here: