John Hawkes is impressive, in person or on screen. In our video interview with Vera Farmiga, she admitted to Movie Fanatic exclusively that all her actors joined the cast once Hawkes was signed. He’s an actor’s actor. So, what he tells us in our exclusive video interview for Martha Marcy May Marlene about his co-star Elizabeth Olsen is quite profound.
Hawkes earned an Academy Award nomination for Winter’s Bone, and so did his co-star Jennifer Lawrence. That film served as an announcement to the world of the young actress' keen talent and Hawkes tells us that audiences better be ready for that same type of talent explosion when they see Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene.
The film arrives October 21 and is a stunning piece of work (check out our review October 20). Hawkes commands the screen and anchors his scenes. He portrays the leader of an upstate New York cult where Olsen’s titular character is found when the film begins. How she breaks away from the cult and is reunited with her sister (Sarah Paulson) is the bulk of the film and shows with a great and powerful story, impeccable acting by the cast, that a movie may move mountains of emotions as Olsen and Hawkes do in every single moment on screen.