I Watched Ethan Hawke's Blue Moon, And There's One Scene That Convinced Me He Could Win The Oscar

Warning: SPOILERS for Blue Moon are ahead!

We’re a month away from the 98th Academy Awards nominees competing in their respective categories on the 2026 TV schedule. That includes Ethan Hawke, who’s been nominated in the Best Actor category for his performance as Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon. He’s facing some stiff competition in that category from Michael B. Jordan in Sinners, Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another, Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme, and Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent. However, after streaming Blue Moon with my Netflix subscription, I think there’s a good chance Hawke could take home this Oscar based on a specific scene.

Ethan Hawke’s Coat Room Scene With Margaret Qualley Is Captivating

Blue Moon follows Lorenz Hart grappling with two things on the night of March 31, 1943. First, he’s coming to terms with the successful opening of Oklahoma!, the musical that Richard Rodgers, his former creative partner, wrote with Oscar Hammerstein II. The second is his infatuation with Elizabeth Weiland, a 20-year-old Yale student played by Margaret Qualley, with whom he’s desperate to form a romantic relationship. I won’t get into the Rodgers stuff here, although I do agree with my coworker Philip Sledge that Andrew Scott is deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination for that performance.

As far as Elizabeth goes, it soon becomes clear when she arrives at Sardi’s to meet Hart that his is an unrequited love. She likes him well enough, but it’s obvious she doesn’t see him as a romantic partner. This is emphasized not only by her teasing early on in the night about a dalliance she had with a fellow college student, but also by how she declined getting intimate with him during a weekend away together. And yet, Lorenz Hart is oblivious to all this, and Ethan Hawke does a tremendous job showing the character’s building excitement as he believes this will be the night he’ll get Elizabeth to love him back.

That changes when they get some private time together in the Sardi’s coat room. While Hart is initially fascinated by the story she tells about the aforementioned college student, he becomes disappointed as he learns that, despite how badly this student has treated Elizabeth, she still loves him. Even worse, she confesses to Hart that while she respects and admires him, she doesn’t love him in “that way.” Watching Hawke express his character’s heartbreak is uncomfortable yet captivating to watch.

Lorenz Hart Discussing His Sexuality Makes The Scene Even More Heartbreaking

As if Lorenz Hart learning once and for all that Elizabeth Weiland didn’t love him romantically wasn’t bad enough, she then brings up how her mother told her she doesn’t believe “his primary interest is women.” Hart has been pretty open to this point with bartender Eddie and pianist Morty Rifkin about his various sexual interests, but this is 1943, and talking more publicly about anything other than heterosexuality is frowned upon. Elizabeth immediately regrets asking about his, and Hart instructed her to tell her mother “as she sits by the fireplace, wistfully counting her royalties from Oklahoma!”:

You can feel the frustration in Ethan Hawke’s voice as Lorenz Hart feels the need to explain himself in this way. If he were alive today, that aspect of the musical creative would be more widely accepted, but in 1943, the kind of passion he expresses to Elizabeth just didn’t fly with enough people. That makes it all the sadder that Elizabeth, this young woman who connects with him on many other levels, doesn’t share his romantic feelings.

The 98th Academy Awards air on Sunday, March 16, on ABC. After watching Blue Moon, I will gladly welcome Ethan Hawke winning the Best Actor Oscar. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll also be happy if Michael B. Jordan wins the category, but following Hawke’s previous Oscar nominations for Training Day and Boyhood, he is more than deserving of getting the award this year for his portrayal of Lorenz Hart.