Ethan Hawke speaks for the first time about his latest collaboration with Richard Linklater, "Blue Moon," revealing he first read the script for lyricist Lorenz Hart's biopic 12 years ago.

"I think it's great, let's do it. We have to make this movie," Hawke told Linklater during a masterclass at the Venice Film Festival on Monday. But there was one problem: The director still found Hawke "too attractive" to play the part.

"He was like, 'Cool, we're going to make it, but we've got to wait a little bit.' Why do we have to wait a little bit? He was like, 'You're still too attractive. We've got to wait until you're a little bit less attractive.' I was like, 'What are you talking about?'" Hawke said. "He was like, 'Just trust me. Let's just put it in a drawer and read it every few years and see if we're ready or not.'"

Hawke said the two revisited the script every few years, but it never felt like the right time — until recently. "He saw me at an interview, I was on the Jimmy Fallon show last year or something, and he called me up and said, 'Hey, I saw you on Jimmy Fallon!' I said, 'Oh great, how did it go?' He said, 'Oh, it was great. Let's make 'Blue Moon.' Like, fuck off."