Taylor Swift runs a tight ship. After their surprise Dead Poets Society mini-reunion in the pop star and Post Malone's “Fortnight” music video in April, both Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles spoke in separate interviews about keeping their cameos completely secret from everyone — including their kids .
Hawk appeared first The Late Show Monday night (May 6), where host Stephen Colbert wasted no time asking the actor about his collaboration with Swift. “I think he wanted to hide a little Easter egg Dead Poets Society,” The Before Dawn the star explained. “Josh and I, we've been laughing ourselves silly all day. We felt like the biggest rock stars in the whole world.”
“You can't imagine what it's like to walk through an airport with a friend you've known for 35 years, who you grew up with and watch all the young people in the airport wearing Eras sweatshirts… and we have a thing for them,” he continued, reminiscing his and Charles' trip to Swift's top-secret filming location. “We will meet the queen ourselves.”
Hawke also revealed that he signed an NDA before filming the project, meaning he couldn't tell either of his young daughters – Clementine and Indiana, whom he shares with his wife, producer Ryan Souch Hawke – for the attempt.
“Tell my teenage daughters I'm going to meet Taylor and everyone at school will know,” she told Colbert. “When they found out, the look on their face was one of deep disappointment. [They were like,] “Don't pay attention to my dad, my dad is an idiot, you should be yelling at me.” Taylor belongs to them. I can't have this on them.”
Stopping The Tonight Show The next day, Charles told Jimmy Fallon that he also kept the video hidden from his children before it was released on April 19, the same day Swift's album hit the Billboard 200. Department of Tormented Poets tap streaming services. “They're just chatty and they're going to talk about it at school,” he said with a laugh.
“Eventually, right before it aired, I told my son because he's so full of hot air,” added Charles, who has two children with his wife, writer Sophie Flack. “He makes up so many things, I knew no one would believe him anyway. He said, “Dad, I told someone. They didn't believe me, you were right.”
The Good wife The alum also revealed that Swift had first reached out to Hawke's older daughter, Stranger Things Star Maya Hawke – who he shares with ex-wife Uma Thurman as well as 22-year-old son Levon – in order to bond with the two Dead Poets Society leads. The actors co-starred in the Peter Weir-directed classic in 1989, nearly 30 years before reuniting to play the mad scientists conducting experiments on Swift's character in “Fortnight.” The Post Malone-assisted track has since spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Taylor knows Ethan's daughter Maya and reached out to her,” Charles recalls. “I think it's a small tip Dead Poets Society, other tortured poets. I just got over the thought [Ethan] he was hitting on me when he first called me—I said, “Man, you're a bull—you're hitting on me now?” It just seemed like such a fun idea.”
“I'll tell you this, [Swift’s] an incredible director,” Charles added. “My favorite kind of director because he knows what he wants. I was already a fan of her music, but if any of you ever meet her, your fandom for her will go through the roof. He's just a genuine, cool, approachable person.”
Watch Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles open up about their “Fortnight” cameos below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/ethan-hawke-josh-charles-taylor-swift-fortnight-video-cameos-1235677056/
