Acclaimed filmmaker Richard Linklater and longtime collaborator Ethan Hawke reunite once again for a deeply emotional and artistically rich new film titled Blue Moon — a moving exploration of genius, heartbreak, and creative loss.
Drawing inspiration from the life of lyricist Lorenz Hart, one half of the legendary songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart, the film delves into the painful unraveling of an artist left behind by success and history.
A Forgotten Genius Behind the Classics
Before musical icons Rodgers and Hammerstein created classics like The Sound of Music and Carousel, there was Rodgers and Hart, the dynamic partnership that defined Broadway’s golden era in the 1920s and ’30s.
Hart, a brilliant lyricist, was the creative mind behind enduring songs such as “My Funny Valentine” and “Blue Moon” — the latter lending its name to Linklater’s film. However, while Rodgers moved forward with a new collaborator, Oscar Hammerstein II, Hart was left adrift.
Blue Moon tells the story of this heartbreak — not just of love, but of creative partnership and purpose.
A Collaboration Decades in the Making
Director Richard Linklater revealed that the idea for Blue Moon has been with him for over a decade. The script, written by Robert Kaplow (author of Me and Orson Welles), landed in his hands in the early 2010s.
“It was this little howl into the night of an artist being left behind — sad, beautiful, witty, and irreverent,” Linklater said about his first impression of the story. “For years, we kept working on it until its time had come.”
This project marks another creative reunion between Linklater and Hawke, who have previously worked together on acclaimed titles like Before Sunrise, Boyhood, and The Newton Boys. Their shared history gives Blue Moon the kind of emotional authenticity that only comes from decades of artistic trust.
Inside the Story: One Night at Sardi’s
The film unfolds over a single night, almost entirely set inside Sardi’s, the legendary Broadway restaurant. There, Lorenz Hart — known as “Larry” in the film — sits at the bar, drink in hand, lost in reflection.
As he muses on his life, his art, and the people he has known, the setting becomes a stage for memory and regret. The once-vibrant lyricist drifts between self-awareness and despair, his wit and charm flickering like the final embers of a dying star.
Hawke’s performance captures a man both proud of his genius and tormented by irrelevance. The monologues play out like a one-man show — intimate, painful, and magnetic.
“You see breakup movies all the time,” Linklater noted, “but not many about artistic breakups. Those are even more fascinating.”
The End of an Iconic Partnership
The partnership between Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart was one of the most successful in musical theater history — until it wasn’t.
Their creative chemistry produced hits like Babes in Arms and Pal Joey, but Hart’s alcoholism and emotional instability began to strain their relationship. When Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II for Oklahoma! in 1943, it marked the start of a new golden era — and the end of Hart’s career.
In one striking scene, Rodgers (played by Andrew Scott) laments that Hart’s decline forced him to take over writing duties for the 1942 musical By Jupiter. Scott’s portrayal of Rodgers earned him a Silver Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, underscoring the film’s powerful performances.
Hart’s decline was swift and tragic. He passed away in November 1943 — just eight months after Oklahoma! premiered, leaving behind a legacy that continues to shape Broadway nearly a century later.
Ethan Hawke’s Unrecognizable Transformation
Ethan Hawke disappears completely into the role of Lorenz Hart. With a balding head, a raspy voice, and weary eyes, he becomes a man ravaged by time, loneliness, and unfulfilled love.
Hawke described the process as one of his most intense transformations yet. “It’s about someone who chose the theater with monastic devotion,” he said. “He sees the entire world through it — love, loss, art, identity. Everything.”
Critics have praised Hawke’s performance for its depth and fragility, capturing the agony of a creative soul who can no longer find peace in his own brilliance.
“Basically,” Hawke said, “we’re watching a human being die of heartbreak in 90 minutes.”
The Women, the Secrets, and the Inner Battle
While the film focuses on Hart’s artistic collapse, it also delves into his complicated relationships and struggles with identity.
Hart becomes infatuated with his 20-year-old protégée, Elizabeth Weiland (played by Margaret Qualley), a Yale student who does not return his affection. Their relationship, drawn from real-life letters found by Kaplow, reflects Hart’s desperate search for normalcy in a world that wouldn’t accept him as he was.
Hart, who was gay but closeted, lived during an era when homosexuality was criminalized in the U.S. His attraction to Elizabeth becomes a painful attempt to prove his “normalcy” — a futile bid to conform.
“The thing he’s really suffering from is the breakup with Rodgers,” Hawke explained. “But that pain is too big to face, so he redirects it. He impales himself on another kind of heartbreak — one he can understand: unrequited love.”
This emotional triangle highlights how Hart’s personal repression and artistic rejection intertwined, leading to his ultimate downfall.
A Tragic Love Letter to Art and Artists
At its core, Blue Moon is not just a biographical drama — it’s a love letter to broken artists, to the ones who gave everything to their craft and paid the price for it.
Through Linklater’s intimate direction and Hawke’s haunting performance, the film captures a portrait of genius intertwined with heartbreak. It is melancholy yet deeply human, asking timeless questions about creativity, connection, and self-destruction.
Linklater’s ability to transform confined spaces into emotional landscapes makes Blue Moon feel both theatrical and cinematic — an elegy for those whose brilliance was both their gift and their curse.
Conclusion
With Blue Moon, Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke deliver a film that is poetic, devastating, and unforgettable. It captures the essence of an artist undone by love, rejection, and time — a man who changed Broadway forever but couldn’t save himself.
Haunting, intelligent, and profoundly moving, Blue Moon stands as one of Linklater’s most emotionally mature films — and one of Hawke’s finest performances to date.