Hawke is unrecognizable as the 5-foot balding Broadway genius in Richard Linklater's new film. "It was demolishing to my vanity," he says from Berlin.

Berlin: At the press conference, several journalists already praised Linklater's movie about the great American lyricist as a "masterpiece."

Ethan Hawke's latest collaboration with Richard Linklater was met with cheers at its Berlin Film Festival world premiere.